Worlds 2026 starts on Thursday, with the final on 14 November in New York

The League of Legends World Championship, known as Worlds, is the game's biggest tournament of the year, run by its developer, Riot Games. This year's edition starts on Thursday, 15 October, and runs until 14 November. Nineteen teams will take part, and the competition will move from Los Angeles through Texas all the way to New York. The whole tournament will last more than four weeks, with the arenas getting bigger at every stage.

Play-in in Los Angeles

The tournament opens with the play-in, held from 15 to 18 October at the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles. It is an intimate venue with room for just 300 spectators. The first match of the championship is FURIA v MVK, starting at 20:00 Polish time. European fans should prepare for a late night, though: at 1:00 on Friday morning Karmine Corp take on Cloud9. All play-in matches are best of five, so the first team to win three maps goes through. That format reduces the role of luck: to advance, a team has to win three maps against the same opponent.

Swiss stage in Texas

From 23 to 31 October the tournament moves to Allen, Texas, to an 8,100-seat arena. That is where the Swiss stage takes place. In this format, teams with similar records play each other, and progression or elimination depends on the number of wins and losses. This means a single bad match does not decide a team's fate. The arena in Allen is also 27 times bigger than the Los Angeles venue.

Final in Brooklyn

The final is scheduled for Saturday, 14 November, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The arena holds 19,000 spectators. The match starts at 14:00 local time, which is 20:00 in Poland, a convenient time for fans in Europe. That is a big change from the late-night play-in matches. The winners will lift the Summoner's Cup, the world champions' trophy.

The Europeans and the pools

Three teams represent the LEC. G2 are in Pool 1 together with Gen.G, Anyone's Legend and Liquid. Movistar KOI are in Pool 3, which also includes the decorated T1. G2 are the only European team in the top pool. Both teams will join the competition at the Swiss stage. Karmine Corp, meanwhile, have to fight their way through the play-in and face Cloud9 in their very first match. For European fans, that makes for a strong start to the tournament.

What we don't know

The organisers have not yet announced the prize pool. The sources we checked do not list full team rosters, so it is not known whether any Polish players will take part. Nor do we know who will come through the play-in; that will be settled over the championship's first weekend. If new information emerges, we will return to the story before the Swiss stage begins.