Worlds 2023: Format, Teams And Start Date

After ten long years, Riot Games have finally changed the League of Legends World Championship format. From all the announcements that have been revealed at the start of LoL Season 13, it seems that this is the only positive announcement that Riot have managed. 

Now let's go over the whole new change to the League of Legends world Championship. Which teams can compete, and where exactly will the tournament take place? Thankfully Riot has revealed all the important information. 

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LoL Worlds 2023 Heading Back to South Korea

South Korea is going to be hosting their third League of Legends World Championship after five years. The tournament will be played in four location throughtout the cities of Seoul and Busan.

• The Play-in stage will be played in the regular LoL Park - LCK Arena in Seoul, with a capacity of 450.
• The Swiss stage will be played in the KBS Arena in Seoul, with a capacity of 1,800
• The Quarterfinals and Semifinals will be played in the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan, with a capacity of 14,000
• The Finals will be played in the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, with a capacity of 16,800
  

The last time the League of Legends World Championship was hosted in South Korea, Invictus Gaming won their first Worlds title, as well as the first title for the LPL. Will a South Korean team be able to win it on home soil, or is NA and EU finally going to step up? 

Riot Unveils Brand-New LoL Worlds Format 

During the broadcast of the 2023 Kickoff event, it was also revealed that the Mid-Season Invitational is heading to London, England with a new format. But MSI isn't the only international event getting a hot new look this year. The biggest esports event of the year will also be seeing some improvement. 

Worlds Qualifying Series Revealed

Before Worlds even has a chance to begin, two teams will be facing off to earn their spot at the 2023 League of Legends World Championship. The two fourth-seeded teams of the LCS and the LEC are going to go head-to-head in a best-of-five match to earn the final spot at the biggest esports event of the year. 

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LoL Worlds Play-In Stage

As usual, we also have a play-in stage. This part of the tournament is the first true Worlds stage, featuring eight teams. They will be put into two groups, each playing a four-team double elimination bracket. These brackets will be a best-of-three. 

The top four teams will play two best-of-five with the 'upper' winner facing off agains the other groups 'lower' winner to determine the final two teams to be a part of the main stage of the League of Legends World Championship in 2023. 

LoL Worlds "Stage 2" Features New Format

The second stage of the event will be completely revamped. Out with the sixteen teams stuck in groups, and time to show off what has been tested out during the 2022 Demacia Cup – the Swiss Format. 

The Swiss stage will feature sixteen teams – fourteen qualified and two from the play-ins. In this format, teams with the same game record will go head-to-head. This means in the first round, when every single team has a 0 and 0 record, pairs will be randomly chosen. 

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The Swiss stage will feature five rounds until eight teams have accumulated three wins, while eight other teams have three losses. Games are best-of-one except for those that will either determine whether a team moves onto the next round or is eliminated. 

In this format, some teams could play only free games, while others might need all five to find their way to the knockout rounds. But if you're still confused, try and figure out this beautiful graphic Riot has prepared: 

Worlds Knockout Stage

The final stage of the event is going to be the usual knockout stage that we've come to know so well over the past few years. Eight teams will face off in the quarterfinals, four moving onto the semi-finals with one winner getting crowned during the finals. 

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Overall, it looks like Riot is really ramping up their esports coverage for esports in 2023. While the rest of the announcements for the year 2023 have felt rather stale, at least we know that the esports is going to go well... except for the LCS, that's just f*cking cursed. 

LoL Worlds: Qualified Teams

While some of the regional leagues are still going, like the LEC with its Season Finals and the LCK, where the Playoffs are about to start soon, the first teams have already qualified for the Worlds. At the End, 22 teams from all over the World will be fighting for the biggest title in League of Legends Esport.

Here are the different tournament stages and the already qualified teams:

Teams Qualified for the Play-In Phase:

Teams Qualified For The Swiss Stage

In the Swiss Stage we already have some qualified teams:

It will be interesting to see all the participating teams, once the different qualification processes are completed in the regional leagues.