League of Legends Worlds 2025: Beijing, Shanghai to Host the Championship

Riot Games has officially confirmed the return of the League of Legends World Championship to China in 2025. The global event, for the third time, will be hosted in three iconic cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. It was confirmed at the 2024 Worlds Finals media day at London’s O2 Arena and later detailed on January 8, 2025.

Host Cities and Stage Distribution

Image by LoL Esports, X

The 2025 season will run across three major Chinese cities, each serving a particular function throughout the stages of the tournament:

Beijing will be home to the Play-In and Swiss Stage
Shanghai will host the Quarterfinals and Semifinals
Chengdu is selected to host the Grand Final

This multi-city format reflects the 2017 Worlds but without the COVID restrictions that impacted the 2020 edition taking place solely in Shanghai. Now, for the first time since, the event will go on under normal conditions with live fans and regional support in full.

Chengdu’s addition is not arbitrary. Riot validated the city’s involvement soon after OPPO’s Find X8 release, which also coincided with the extension of their collaboration with Riot Games. Additionally, Chengdu has also been the host of the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational, thereby also proving its competence for international esports events.

Format and Tournament Structure

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Worlds 2025 will have 17 teams under Riot’s new regional format:

4 teams from LPL (China)
4 from LCK (Korea)
3 each from LLA/CBLOL/NA (Americas), LEC (EMEA), and PCS/VCS (Asia-Pacific)

Image via lolesports, Reddit

Match Format Breakdown

The competition will follow this progression:

Play-In Stage starts with a Best-of-5 Fearless Draft between the 4th seeds
Swiss Stage with 16 teams, 5 rounds
Win 3 to advance
Lose 3 and you’re eliminated
Decider matches are Best-of-3; others are Best-of-1
Knockout Stage consists of Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Final, all Best-of-5

The Fearless Draft, introduced for the first time in MSI 2024, bans repeat champion selection, adding strategy diversity.

Prize Pool and Production

The prize pool is projected to be $5 million, one of the biggest prize pools in LoL history. Riot’s production will once more center around immersive experiences, with improved visuals, broadcast quality, and fan interaction.

Though future dates are yet to be announced, most probably, this will happen in October-November 2025. Mid-2025 it is anticipated that venue information, broadcast times and ticketing will be revealed.