Worlds 2026 Expands to 19 Teams Across Los Angeles, Texas and Brooklyn With Only Three Places Filled
The World Championship runs 15 October to 14 November across three American venues, with a four-team play-in feeding a 16-team Swiss stage and Fearless Draft used throughout. Sixteen slots are still open.
The 2026 League of Legends World Championship runs 15 October to 14 November, staged across three venues in the United States and expanded to 19 teams.
Three cities, three stages
| Stage | Venue |
|---|---|
| Play-in | Riot Games Arena, Los Angeles |
| Swiss stage, quarters, semis | Credit Union of Texas Event Center, Allen, Texas |
| Final | Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York |
How 19 becomes 8
Four teams contest a double-elimination play-in played as best-of-five, and only the winner advances. That team joins 15 others in a 16-team Swiss stage, where the first eight teams to reach three wins advance to a single-elimination best-of-five knockout bracket. Fearless Draft is used throughout the event, so champions are locked out for the remainder of each series once played.
Where the slots go
| Region | Slots |
|---|---|
| LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS, LCP | 3 each |
| CBLOL | 2 |
| MSI winner | 1 automatic |
| MSI runner-up's region | 1 extra |
Three qualified, sixteen open
Only three teams are through. Hanwha Life Esports are in as MSI 2026 champions, Bilibili Gaming sealed an LPL place on Championship Points after a top-six finish in Split 3 Group Ascend - their fourth consecutive Worlds - and Team Secret Whales qualified from the LCP.
Everything else is still being played. The LCK playoffs start on 29 August with three places on the line, and the LEC, LCS, LPL and CBLOL races run alongside them through September.
Following it on Playdash
Playdash covers regional qualification and the World Championship itself with match winner, map handicap and correct-score markets on every series, plus first blood, first tower, total kills and game duration. Worlds outrights, region-of-winner, to-reach-knockouts and to-qualify markets open on each region as its playoff bracket sets.
Dates, venues, format and slot allocation as published by Riot Games. Qualified teams are correct as at 25 August 2026, with most regional playoffs still to be played.