2023 League of Legends World Championship
The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is an ongoing esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It is the thirteenth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. The tournament began in South Korea on October 10 and will take place through November 19.[1] Twenty-two teams from nine regions qualified for the tournament based on their placement in regional circuits;[2] defending champions DRX[3] failed to do so after losing to Dplus KIA in the 2023 LCK Regional Finals.[4][5]
2023 | |
![]() | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Sport | League of Legends |
Location | South Korea |
Dates | October 10–November 19 |
Administrator | Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) | 8 team GSL-style double-elimination bracket play-in stage 16 team swiss stage 8 team single-elimination bracket from quarterfinals onwards |
Venue(s) | |
Teams | 22 |
"Gods" (stylized in all caps), performed by NewJeans, was announced as the tournament's theme song.[6][7] A virtual boyband named "Heartsteel" (stylized in all caps) was unveiled by Riot Games during the event, with Baekhyun from Exo and SuperM, ØZI, Tobi Lou and Cal Scruby representing the group as its human counterpart and in the live performance of their debut song, "Paranoia".[8]
Changing of format and region's seed
Starting from 2023, teams from LCL (CIS), TCL (Turkey), and LCO (Oceania) region no longer qualified directly for Worlds due to their leagues being cancelled (LCL, by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine) and downgraded (TCL was merged into LEC, LCO was merged into PCS).
The number of teams was decreased from 24 to 22 compared to last year. For seedings, first-seeded teams from PCS (Asia-Pacific) and VCS (Vietnam) were relegated to start in the play-in stage, while fourth-seeded teams from LCK (South Korea), LPL (China) and third-seeded from LEC (EMEA) and LCS (North America) were promoted to the main event. Prior to the kick off of the tournament, a "Worlds Qualifying Series" match between the fourth-seeded teams from LEC and LCS was played to decide the last team for the play-in stage.[9]
Play-in groups were changed to a GSL-style double-elimination format, while main event's first stage was changed from a double round-robin group stage to a swiss format.[10]
Qualified teams
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the event:[11]
Region | League | Path | Team | ID | Pool |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Starting in the main event's Swiss stage | |||||
South Korea | LCK | Summer Champion | Gen.G | GEN | 1 |
Most Championship Points | T1 | T1 | 2 | ||
Regional Finals Winner | KT Rolster | KT | 3 | ||
Regional Finals Runner-Up | Dplus KIA | DK | 4 | ||
China | LPL | Summer Champion | JD Gaming | JDG | 1 |
Most Championship Points | Bilibili Gaming | BLG | 2 | ||
Regional Finals Winner | LNG Esports | LNG | 3 | ||
Regional Finals Runner-Up | Weibo Gaming | WBG | 4 | ||
EMEA | LEC | Season Finals Champion | G2 Esports | G2 | 1 |
Season Finals Runner-Up | Fnatic | FNC | 2 | ||
Season Finals Place | MAD Lions | MAD | 3 | ||
North America | LCS | Championship Champion | NRG Esports | NRG | 1 |
Championship Runner-Up | Cloud9 | C9 | 2 | ||
Championship Third Place | Team Liquid | TL | 3 | ||
Starting in the Play-in stage | |||||
EMEA | LEC | Worlds Qualifying Series Winner | Team BDS | BDS | 1 |
Asia-Pacific | PCS | Summer Champion | PSG Talon | PSG | 1 |
Summer Runner-Up | CTBC Flying Oyster | CFO | 1 | ||
Vietnam | VCS | Summer Champion | GAM Esports | GAM | 1 |
Summer Runner-Up | Team Whales | TW | 2 | ||
Japan | LJL | Summer Champion | DetonatioN FocusMe | DFM | 2 |
Brazil | CBLOL | Split 2 Champion | LOUD | LLL | 2 |
Latin America | LLA | Closing Champion | Movistar R7 | R7 | 2 |
Venues

Seoul and Busan were the two cities chosen to host the tournament.[12][13]
South Korea | |||
---|---|---|---|
Seoul | Busan | Seoul | |
Play-in Stage (including the Worlds Qualifying Series) |
Group Swiss Stage | Quarterfinals & Semifinals | Finals |
LoL Park | KBS Arena | Sajik Indoor Gymnasium | Gocheok Sky Dome |
Capacity: 450 | Capacity: 1,824 | Capacity: 14,099 | Capacity: 16,744 |
Worlds Qualifying Series
- Date and time: October 9, start time at 13:00 (KST) (UTC+9)
- The fourth-seeded teams from LEC (Team BDS) and LCS (Golden Guardians) faced off in a best-of-five series to determine the last team that would qualify for the play-in stage.[14]
Qualifying Match | |||
October 9, 1:00 pm | |||
Team BDS | 3 | ||
Golden Guardians | 0 | ||
Play-in stage
Groups
- Date and time: October 10–14, start time at 16:00 KST (UTC+9)
- 8 teams were divided into 2 groups of four teams each playing in a GSL-style double-elimination format. Teams from same region could not be placed in the same group.
- All matches were best-of-three.
- Group A
Opening Matches | Winner's Match | Advance to Qualifiers | |||||||||||
October 10, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
LOUD | 2 | ||||||||||||
October 12, 4:00 pm | |||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
LOUD | 0 | ||||||||||||
October 10, 4:00 pm | A1 | PSG Talon | |||||||||||
PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||||||||
Movistar R7 | 0 | ||||||||||||
PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||||||||
Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
October 14, 4:00 pm | |||||||||||||
October 13, 4:00 pm | LOUD | 0 | |||||||||||
A2 | GAM Esports | ||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 2 | GAM Esports | 2 | ||||||||||
Movistar R7 | 0 | ||||||||||||
- Group B
Opening Matches | Winner's Match | Advance to Qualifiers | |||||||||||
October 11, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Team BDS | 1 | ||||||||||||
October 12, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Team Whales | 2 | ||||||||||||
Team Whales | 2 | ||||||||||||
October 11, 4:00 pm | B1 | Team Whales | |||||||||||
CTBC Flying Oyster | 1 | ||||||||||||
DetonatioN FocusMe | 0 | ||||||||||||
CTBC Flying Oyster | 2 | ||||||||||||
Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
October 14, 7:00 pm | |||||||||||||
October 13, 7:00 pm | CTBC Flying Oyster | 0 | |||||||||||
B2 | Team BDS | ||||||||||||
Team BDS | 2 | Team BDS | 2 | ||||||||||
DetonatioN FocusMe | 0 | ||||||||||||
Qualifiers
- Date and time: October 15, start time at 12:00 KST (UTC+9)
- Upper bracket winner of one group faced the lower bracket winner of the other group.
- Qualifiers were best-of-five.
- Two winners of the qualifiers advanced to the swiss stage as Pool 4.[15]
Qualifying Matches | Qualified | |||||||
October 15, 12:00 pm | ||||||||
A1 | PSG Talon | 2 | ||||||
Q | Team BDS | |||||||
B2 | Team BDS | 3 | ||||||
October 15, 5:00 pm | ||||||||
B1 | Team Whales | 1 | ||||||
Q | GAM Esports | |||||||
A2 | GAM Esports | 3 | ||||||
Swiss stage
- Date and time: October 19–29, start time at 14:00 KST (UTC+9)
- 16 teams play in Swiss-system format with five rounds.
- At Round 1, Pool 1 teams will play Pool 4 teams and Pool 2 teams will play Pool 3 teams. Teams from same region don't play each others.
- From Round 2 onward, teams with the same record will play each other. Match up will be determined by draw after each round and teams from the same region can play each others.
- Teams with 3 wins advance to knockout stage, while teams with 3 losses are eliminated.
- All matches are best-of-one, excluding the advancement & elimination matches in round 3 along with the latter 4th & 5th round matches, which are best-of-three matches.
- Bracket
Advance to knockouts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2–0 | JD Gaming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1–0 | G2 Esports | 0 | Gen.G | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
0–0 | Weibo Gaming | 0 | Gen.G | 2 | Advance to knockouts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
T1 | 1 | G2 Esports | 1 | JD Gaming | 2 | 2–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Team Liquid | 0 | Bilibili Gaming | 0 | LNG Esports | 1 | KT Rolster | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Cloud9 | 1 | JD Gaming | 1 | LNG Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
MAD Lions | 0 | LNG Esports | 1 | 1–1 | T1 | Advance to knockouts | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Gen.G | 1 | Cloud9 | 0 | NRG Esports | 1 | Bilibili Gaming | 2–2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | Gen.G | 1 | MAD Lions | 0 | NRG Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Team BDS | 0 | T1 | 0 | T1 | 1 | G2 Esports | ||||||||||||||||||||||
JD Gaming | 1 | Cloud9 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
G2 Esports | 1 | 0–1 | KT Rolster | 1 | 1–2 | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Dplus KIA | 0 | Team Liquid | 0 | Weibo Gaming | 0 | Cloud9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Weibo Gaming | 1 | NRG Esports | 1 | Bilibili Gaming | 1 | Fnatic | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NRG Esports | 0 | Dplus KIA | 0 | Fnatic | 0 | Dplus KIA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
LNG Esports | 1 | KT Rolster | 1 | GAM Esports | Eliminated | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Fnatic | 0 | Team BDS | 0 | 0–2 | Weibo Gaming | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Bilibili Gaming | 1 | MAD Lions | 1 | Dplus KIA | 2 | MAD Lions | ||||||||||||||||||||||
KT Rolster | 0 | Fnatic | 1 | Team BDS | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 0 | Team Liquid | 1 | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
GAM Esports | 2 | Team Liquid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team BDS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Knockout stage
- Date and time: November 2–19, all games excluding the finals start time at 17:00 KST (UTC+9)
- Finals start at 16:00 KST (UTC+9)
- Eight teams from group stage are drawn into a single-elimination bracket.
- Teams with a 3-0 record in the swiss stage must face those with a 3-2 record, all remaining teams will be seeded randomly.
- All matches are best-of-five.
- The members of the winning team will lift the Summoner's Cup, earning their title as the League of Legends 2023 World Champions.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
November 2, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 11, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 3, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 19, 4:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 4, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 12, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
November 5, 5:00 pm | |||||||||||||
Ranking
Team ranking
Place | Team | PG | PQ | SS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20% | $445,000 | |
2nd | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15% | $333,750 | |
3rd–4th | – | – | – | – | – | 8% | $178,000 | ||
– | – | – | – | – | |||||
5th–8th | – | – | – | – | 4.5% | $100,125 | |||
– | – | – | – | ||||||
– | – | – | – | ||||||
– | – | – | – | ||||||
9th–11th | – | – | – | 3.25% | $72,312.50 | ||||
– | – | – | |||||||
– | – | – | |||||||
12th–14th | – | – | – | 2.75% | $61,187.50 | ||||
– | – | – | |||||||
– | – | – | |||||||
15th–16th | Team Liquid | – | – | 0–3 | 2.25% | $50,062.50 | |||
Team BDS | 2–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | ||||||
17th–18th | PSG Talon | 2–0 | 2–3 | 1.75% | $38,937.50 | ||||
Team Whales | 2–0 | 1–3 | |||||||
19th–20th | CTBC Flying Oyster | 1–2 | 1.5% | $33,375 | |||||
LOUD | 1–2 | ||||||||
21st–22nd | DetonatioN FocusMe | 0–2 | 1% | $22,250 | |||||
Movistar R7 | 0–2 | ||||||||
Place | Team | PG | PQ | SS | QF | SF | Finals | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
References
- Nicholas Taifalos (July 10, 2023). "LoL Worlds 2023: Dates, location, tickets, and more". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- "Worlds 2023 Primer". Riot Games Esports Media Center. September 14, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Shannon Liao (November 5, 2022). "DRX beats T1 to win 2022 League of Legends World Championship". Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- Mateusz Miter (August 25, 2023). "3-time LoL Worlds finalist fails to qualify for 2023 tournament after LCK Finals disappointment". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Paik Ji-hwan (August 28, 2023). "Dplus KIA, KT Rolster top LCK regionals to earn ticket to Worlds". Korea Joongang Daily. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Tom Daniels (September 27, 2023). "K-pop group NewJeans to perform League of Legends World Championship anthem". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Charisma Madarang (October 4, 2023). "NewJeans Immortalize 'League of Legends' With 'Gods' Championship Anthem". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 6, 2023.
- Tom Daniels (October 23, 2023). "Riot Games unveils new League of Legends virtual music group HEARTSTEEL". Esports Insider. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- Ethan Garcia (October 6, 2023). "Golden Guardians and Team BDS kick off LoL Worlds 2023 with inaugural NA vs. EU qualifying series". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
- Tyler Esguerra (September 14, 2023). "LoL Worlds 2023: How does the Swiss-style format work?". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
- David Jang (September 10, 2023). "All teams qualified for Worlds 2023". Inven Global. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- "Announcing Worlds 2023 Venues, Dates, and Ticket Sales". Riot Games Esports Media Center. April 22, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Lee Si-jin (October 1, 2023). "2023 LoL World Championship to entertain esports fans". Korea Herald. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- Cecilia Ciocchetti (October 9, 2023). "Good morning Europe: BDS squeeze in as last LoL Worlds team after crushing NA hopes". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
- David Jang (September 10, 2023). "Play-in Brackets for Worlds 2023 Fixed". Inven Global. Retrieved October 2, 2023.