League of Legends Worlds 2026 Expands to 19 Teams Across Three US Cities From October 15

The 2026 League of Legends World Championship runs from October 15 to November 14 and is spread across three United States cities, with a 19-team field that is the largest in the event's history.

The play-in stage is hosted at Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles, the Swiss stage, quarter-finals and semi-finals move to the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, and the final is at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It is the first time an East Coast city has staged the Worlds final.

Four teams contest a double-elimination best-of-five play-in bracket to reach the 16-team Swiss stage, where the first eight sides to reach three wins advance to a single-elimination knockout bracket. Every series is best-of-five, and Fearless Draft is used throughout, which reshapes how teams manage their champion pools across a series.

The LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS and LCP each send three teams, CBLOL sends two after an increase confirmed in March, and the MSI winner and runner-up take a slot each. It is the first Worlds featuring LCS and CBLOL representation since 2024, following the discontinuation of the League of Legends Championship of The Americas.

Playdash will carry Worlds 2026 outright, group qualification and series markets as regional qualification is settled through the autumn.