LoL Worlds 2023 is coming to South Korea. Which teams will be playing in the tournament though and how has the format changed from previous iterations? We'll answer the most important questions for you right here.
LoL Worlds 2023 is the biggest esports tournament in the world. With the first tournament taking place in 2011 at Gamescom, the event has since grown into a huge phenomenon with millions of dollars in prize money available, as well as fans from every corner of the globe cheering on their favorite team.
In 2023 Riot will be taking the League of Legends World Championship to South Korea for a third time since the tournament's inception and a brand-new format has been created. Let's check out the details below so you can keep up with Worlds in 2023.
LoL Worlds 2023: Location & Starting Date
World Championship Location
The LoL Worlds 2023 are going to be held in South Korea. This is going to be the third time that South Korea gets to host the World Championship – and could be the first time Faker gets to play on home soil. The tournament will be held in various cities in South Korea.
Riot have chosen Seoul and Busan as the host cities of the event, with the Play-In Stage and Swiss stage (we'll get to this soon) taking place in Seoul before moving on to Busan for the Quarter and Semi Finals.
The Grand Finals are going to be held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, which is the largest indoor venue in the country, with a capacity of almost 17,000.
World Championship Starting Date & Schedule
The event is going to kick off a little later than usual, due to the 19th Asian Games being held September 23-October 8 in Hangzhou, China. To give teams from competing regions a chance to make it back to South Korea in time, Riot will be kicking off Worlds on October 10, 2023.
- The Play-In Stage will be October 10-15 at LoL Park in Seoul.
- The Swiss Stage will be October 19-23 and October 26-29 at KBS Arena in Seoul
- Knockouts Stage:
- Quarterfinals will be November 2-5 at the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan
- Semifinals will be November 11-12, at the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan.
- Worlds Finals will be on November 19 and at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul
LoL Worlds Opening Match
At this point, (almost) every team competing at the League of Legends World Championship 2023 is set into stone. There is just one more open slot, with the fourth seeds from EU and NA fighting for it. Golden Guardians is taking on Team BDS during the Worlds Qualifying Series.
Nevertheless, we already know who is competing in the first matchup of Worlds 2023. On October 10, at 3:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM BST Movistar R7 is going up against PSG Talon. Here is a complete overview of Play-In Phase Round 1:
| Date, Time | Team 1 | Team 2 |
October 10, 2023, 3:00 am EDT/ 8:00 am BST | Movistar R7 | PSG Talon |
| October 10, 2023, 6:00 am EDT/ 11:00 am BST | LOUD | GAM Esports |
| October 11, 2023, 3:00 am EDT/ 8:00 am BST | DetonatioN FM | CTBC Flying Oysters |
| October 11, 2023, 6:00 am EDT/ 11:00 am BST | TBD (Winner WQS) | Team Whales |
New Tournament Format for LoL Worlds 2023
At the start of the 2023 League of Legends season, Riot revealed that this year we would be getting a brand-new format for both international tournaments. MSI 2023 is long over, so let's go over the information we've got for Worlds 2023.
The event will feature 22 teams with three rounds of competition: Play-Ins, Stage 2 and Knockouts.
For European and North American fans you even get a little extra thanks to the newly added Worlds Qualifying Series.
Worlds Qualifying Series
The Worlds Qualifying Series is going to be an added pre-Worlds tournament that will feature the fourth seeds of the LEC and LCS to determine which team will make it to the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.
Riot has stated that they hope to expand the Worlds Qualifying Series (WQS) in the future to encompass more teams.
For 2023 though, this pre-tournament match will only feature two teams in one best-of-five to determine the final team at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.
The Worlds Qualifying Series will take place on October 9, 2023 between Golden Guardians from the LCS and Team BDS from the LEC. Only one team will proceed to the Worlds Play-In Stage!
LoL Worlds Play-In Stage Explained
In the play-in stage, eight teams will split into two groups for a best of 3, double elimination bracket. The top four teams of the group phase will then move on to compete in a pair of advancement matches. These will be best of five. The winners move onto the next round, which is the newly created 'Stage 2' of the tournament.
Regions Part of Play-In Phase
- The top 2 teams from VCS, PCS
- The top team from LLA, CBLOL, LJL, and the winner of the WQS
Stage 2 of LoL Worlds Explained
This is where things get extremely interesting. A total of sixteen teams will be a part of the second stage at the tournament. They will go head-to-head in a Swiss format. Now, what exactly does 'Swiss format' entail?
Riot has introduced a five-round Swiss format for the League of Legends World Championship, instead of the usual group stage for 2023. Teams will compete until they either accumulate three wins or three losses.
Teams will only be able to compete against teams with the same game record as them. So, for the first round, when everyone is 0 - 0 teams will randomly get paired against one another.
- Did you know Riot already tested out the Swiss Format? They did so at the 2022 Demacia Cup in China
Games will be played as best-of-ones, except for those that will either advance or eliminate a team. Those will be a best-of-three format.
Eight teams will move on to the knockout rounds once the Swiss Round is finished. Then we move onto the final stage of the League of Legends World Championship to see who is crowned the winner.
Regions Starting in Swiss Stage:
- The top 4 teams from LPL, LCK
- The top 3 teams from LEC, LCS
- Two winners of Play-In Stage
Knockout Rounds Explained
Do we need an explainer for this one? We've come to know the usual League of Legends knock out rounds and this is nothing new. Fans will get to enjoy the quarterfinal, then a semi-final until we reach the finals. No double elimination here, but Riot has made their stance clear that for Worlds they do not want a double elimination.
So, instead we're going to be getting a whole new second round of the tournament. This tournament format looks promising with more best-of-three and five games, something the community has been calling for, for a long time.
LoL Worlds 2023: Qualified Teams
The tournament will feature 22 teams from all over the world. Eight teams will be part of the Play-In Phase while the remaining fourteen teams are already qualified for the Swiss Stage of the tournament.
Teams Qualified For Play-In Phase
Seed | Region | Team |
| 1 | PCS | PSG Talon |
| 2 | PCS | CTBC Flying Oyster |
| 1 | VCS | GAM Esports |
| 2 | VCS | Team Whales |
| 1 | LJL | Detonation FocusMe |
| 1 | CBLOL | LOUD |
| 1 | LLA | Movistar R7 |
| 1 | Worlds Qualifying Series (Golden Guardians vs. Team BDS) | Team BDS |
Teams Qualified For Swiss Stage
| Seed | Region | Team |
| 1 | LPL | JD Gaming |
| 2 | LPL | BiliBili Gaming |
3 | LPL | LNG Esports |
| 4 | LPL | Weibo Gaming |
| 1 | LCK | Gen.G |
| 2 | LCK | T1 |
| 3 | LCK | KT Rolster |
| 4 | LCK | Dplus KIA |
| 1 | LEC | G2 Esports |
| 2 | LEC | Fnatic |
| 3 | LEC | MAD Lions |
| 1 | LCS | NRG |
2 | LCS | Cloud9 |
| 3 | LCS | Team Liquid |
| 4 | Play-In Stage | TBD |
| 4 | Play-In Stage | TBD |
The first team to qualify for the 2023 League of Legends World Championship this year was none other than JD Gaming, who have dominated domestically, as well as internationally throughout the year.