Format and rules
01 Format at a glance
Worlds 2026 features 19 teams from six leagues: LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS, LCP and CBLOL. The event has three stages:
- Play-In4 teams · Los Angeles · 1 advances
- Swiss Stage16 teams · Allen, TX · 8 advance
- Knockouts8 teams · Bo5 · final in New York
02 Play-In
- 4 teams play a GSL bracket (double elimination within a 4-team group).
- Two opening matches, then a winners' match and a losers' (elimination) match.
- The loser of the winners' match plays the winner of the elimination match. That winner then plays the winners' match victor for the spot.
- Every match is Bo5. Only one team advances to the Swiss Stage.
03 Swiss Stage
- 16 teams and up to 5 rounds. Each round pairs teams with the same record (e.g. 1-0 vs 1-0).
- 3 wins = advance to the knockouts, 3 losses = eliminated.
- Rounds 1 and 2 are Bo1. Any match that can send a team through or knock it out is Bo3. In round 3 the 1-1 pool plays Bo1, while the 2-0 and 0-2 pools play Bo3. Rounds 4 and 5 are all Bo3.
- Round 1 is drawn from pots: pot 1 meets pot 4 and pot 2 meets pot 3. Later pairings are drawn after each round among teams with the same record.
- Pots: P1 GEN, AL, TL, G2 · P2 TSW, LOS, HLE, BLG · P3 LYON, MKOI, T1, TES · P4 CFO, IG, DK, KC (Play-In winner).
04 Knockouts
- 8 teams, single elimination, every match Bo5.
- The two 3-0 teams are placed on opposite halves of the bracket and face 3-2 teams in the quarterfinals. The other pairings are drawn.
- Quarterfinals and semifinals are in Allen (Texas); the Grand Final is on November 14 at Barclays Center (Brooklyn, New York).
05 Fearless Draft
- In Bo3 and Bo5 series, Fearless Draft applies: a champion picked in a series can't be picked again in later games of that series.
- Every game in a series therefore has a different champion pool, testing the depth of the whole team.
06 Prize pool
Base prize pool: $5,000,000.
| Place | Share | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | 20% | $1,000,000 |
| 2. | 16% | $800,000 |
| 3.–4. | 8% | $400,000 |
| 5.–8. | 6% | $300,000 |
| 9.–11. | 3.5% | $175,000 |
| 12.–14. | 2.5% | $125,000 |
| 15.–16. | 1.8% | $90,000 |
| 17. | 1% | $50,000 |
| 18. | 0.8% | $40,000 |
| 19. | 0.6% | $30,000 |
07 Venues
Riot Games ArenaLos Angeles, CAPlay-In · October 15–18Capacity: 300
Credit Union of Texas Event CenterAllen, TXSwiss Stage · October 23–31Capacity: 8 100
Credit Union of Texas Event CenterAllen, TXQuarterfinals · November 3–6Capacity: 8 100
Credit Union of Texas Event CenterAllen, TXSemifinals · November 7–8Capacity: 8 100
Barclays CenterBrooklyn, New YorkFinal · November 14Capacity: 19 000
08 Anthem and show
- Anthem: “Know My Name” — True Damage (Coco Jones, Sofía Reyes, Soyeon, Vic Mensa)
- Tournament slogan: This Is Our Moment
- Orchestral theme: a heavy metal take by Pentakill