[UPDATED 9/15] Everything you need to know about the 2020 LoL World Championship

Sep 15, 2020

*All the logos for the Worlds 2020 teams*

Riot Games revealed Tuesday detailed information with regards to the 2020 League of Legends World Championships.

Each year, the best professional LoL teams from all around the world gather to compete against one another to prove that they’re the best. 2020 marks Worlds' 10th year anniversary and 22 teams will hail from 11 regions: Korea, China, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, Brazil, CIS, Japan, Latin America, Oceania, and Turkey. Each ticket to Worlds is given to teams based on the teams’ performance in their respective regions.

How has team seeding changed for Worlds 2020?

For the first time in Worlds history, China (LPL) and Europe (LEC) were given four seeds, based on their Worlds performances in recent years. Additionally, the teams from Vietnam (VCS) are unable to participate at this year’s Worlds due to the government travel restrictions imposed by the Vietnamese government.

As such, all of Korea (LCK)’s three teams were directly seeded into the group stages, due to their dominant international history. Therefore, the seeds for Worlds 2020 are, as follows:

LPL: 4 seeds
LEC: 4 seeds
LCK: 3 seeds
LCS: 3 seeds
PCS: 2 seeds
CBLOL: 1 seed
LCL: 1 seed
LJL: 1 seed
LLA: 1 seed
OPL: 1 seed
TCL: 1 seed

What's the prize pool for Worlds 2020?

Riot Games has adjusted this year's prize pool distribution, stating:

“To create a more equitable structure, the first-place prize will be reduced and allocated to the other finishers to better distribute the Worlds prize pool to the remaining competitors, who do not benefit from the sale of the Worlds skins.”

Riot has also reallocated the prize pool to account for the VCS teams unable to attend this year’s Worlds, and is intending to pay out more than 100% of the prize pool this year.

*Reallocation chart of the prize pool for 2020 Worlds*

Worlds 2020 schedule breakdown

Worlds 2020 starts on Sep. 25 with the play-in stage and concludes with the grand finals taking place on Oct. 31. All matches up to and including the semifinals will take place at the Shanghai Media Tech Studio, and the grand finals will take place at the Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium.

Worlds 2020: Play-ins schedule, format, and groups

The play-in stage will be held Sept. 25-30. 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five and compete in a single round-robin cycle. The first-place teams of each group will advance to the group stages, while the last-place team will be eliminated from the tournament. The 3rd and 4th place team of each group will play in a best-of-5 series, with the winners facing off against the other group’s 2nd place team in a best-of-5, where the winners will then advance to the group stages.

Worlds 2020: Group stage schedule and format

The group stage will take place from Oct. 3-6 and Oct. 8-11 in a double round-robin format. It consists of the 12 teams that were directly seeded into the group stages and the four teams that qualified via play-in stages. The 16 teams will then be divided into four groups, and the top 2 teams from each group will then advance to the playoff quarterfinals.