2025 LTA season

2025 LTA season
League	LTA
Sport	League of Legends
Duration	25 January – 23 February (Split 1) 5 April – TBD (Split 2) TBD (Split 3)
Number of teams	16
Split 1
Winners	Team Liquid
Runners-up	100 Thieves
Season MVP	Sean "Yeon" Sung (Team Liquid)
Split 2
Split 3
LTA seasons
2026 →

The 2025 LTA season is the inaugural season of the League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA), a pan-American professional esports league for the video game League of Legends . The league launched with 16 teams, thirteen (13) of whom are franchised, two guest teams, and one provisional guest team, ^[a] all playing across three splits in line with the new three-split structure and competitive calendar introduced the game's developer Riot Games starting with the 2025 competitive season. ^[1]

Notable events

• On 11 June 2024, Riot Games announced in a blog post titled "LoL Esports: Building Towards A Brighter Future" that the League Championship Series (LCS), Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) and Liga Latinoamérica (LLA) would plan to merge into a Pan-American league that would begin play in 2025. ^{[2] [3]}
• On 31 October 2024, the League of Legends Championship of The Americas was formed, with the inaugural 16 teams in the league announced that same day. ^[4]
• 100 Thieves, initially planned to be a regular partnered team coming from the former LCS, also announced on October 31 that they sold their slot back to Riot Games. As such, they would be a "provisional guest team" for the 2025 LTA season, which means they'll not be eligible for relegation but may leave competitive League at the end of the 2025 split. ^[5]
• On 13 January 2025, Mark Zimmerman, who was the final commissioner of the LCS, was named the first commissioner of the LTA. ^[6]
• On 14 January 2025, Cloud9 announced a partnership with KIA America for their League of Legends division. The team is now known as Cloud9 KIA. ^[7]
• On 24 January 2025, Fluxo announced a partnership with w7m esports for their League of Legends division. The team is now known as Fluxo w7m.^{[ citation needed ]}
• On 16 March 2025, prior to the final of the 2025 First Stand Tournament, Riot Games announced that the "Fearless Draft" format would continue beyond the first split of the season. This included the LTA's Split 2 and Split 3 as well as MSI and Worlds. ^[8]
• On 21 March 2025, Mark Zimmerman announced during an "LTA Address" that the formats for Splits 2 and 3 would change to align with Fearless Draft's global rollout. Split 2's regular season, initially announced as double round-robin best-of-1 group stage, was split into a single round-robin best-of-1 "positioning phase" and single round-robin best-of-3 "group stage", while Split 3's "Pick and Play" elimination stage matches were all converted to best-of-5s. ^[9]

Guest teams

Two guest teams will be competing in the 2025 season – Disguised from the North America Challengers League (NACL) in the United States and Isurus Estral from Argentina. All teams will compete in a promotion and relegation tournament against the top teams from the Tier 2 leagues.

Split 1

The inaugural LTA Split began on 18 January, with the Finals held on 23 February at the newly renovated Riot Games Arena in São Paulo, Brazil.

Format

All sixteen (16) teams, eight (8) in each conference, competed in a Double-elimination tournament bracket in their respective conferences to determine the top four (4) teams each from both the LTA North and LTA South. All matches were played in best-of-threes. The remaining eight (8) then-competed in an eight-team single-elimination playoff bracket, where all matches except the finals were best-of-threes and the first round of matchups being cross-conference matches. The finals were a best-of-five series, with the winner being crowned Split 1 Champion and the lone LTA representative at the 2025 First Stand Tournament. ^{[10] [6]}

Split 1 implemented the "Fearless Draft" format, which was popularized by China's LoL Development League, where teams cannot pick a champion that they've already played in a series, even if the champion was picked by the opposing team. While the format was initially intended to be used only for Split 1, Riot Games later announced that it would apply for the remainder of the season. ^[8]

The draw for the first round matchups in each conference were held on 18 January 2025.

North

Venue: Riot Games Arena, Los Angeles
Source: LoL Esports

Bracket 1

Round 1

Round 2

Advance to inter-conference playoffs

Match 1 – 25 January

FlyQuest

2

2 February

Shopify Rebellion

0

FlyQuest

1

Match 2 – 25 January

Cloud9 KIA

Cloud9 KIA

2

LYON Gaming

0

Cloud9 KIA

2

Lower Round 2

Round 3

1 February

Team Liquid

2

Team Liquid

Shopify Rebellion

2

Shopify Rebellion

0

LYON Gaming

1

Bracket 2

Round 1

Round 2

Advance to inter-conference playoffs

Match 3 – 26 January

100 Thieves

2

2 February

Disguised

0

100 Thieves

2

Match 4 – 26 January

100 Thieves

Team Liquid

1

Team Liquid

2

Dignitas

0

Lower Round 2

Round 3

1 February

FlyQuest

2

FlyQuest

Disguised

1

Dignitas

0

Dignitas

2

South

Venue: Riot Games Arena, São Paulo
Source: LoL Esports

Bracket 1

Round 1

Round 2

Advance to inter-conference playoffs

Match 1 – 25 January

paiN Gaming

2

2 February

LOUD

1

paiN Gaming

1

Match 2 – 25 January

Leviatán

Leviatán

2

Vivo Keyd Stars

1

Leviatán

2

Lower Round 2

Round 3

9 February

1 February

LOUD

2

LOUD

LOUD

2

RED Canids

1

Vivo Keyd Stars

1

Bracket 2

Round 1

Round 2

Advance to inter-conference playoffs

Match 3 – 26 January

Isurus Estral

2

2 February

FURIA

1

Isurus Estral

2

Match 4 – 26 January

Isurus Estral

RED Canids

1

RED Canids

2

Fluxo w7m

0

Lower Round 2

Round 3

9 February

1 February

FURIA

1

paiN Gaming

FURIA

2

paiN Gaming

2

Fluxo w7m

0

Playoffs

Venue: Riot Games Arena, São Paulo

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

15 February

100 Thieves

2

22 February

paiN Gaming

0

100 Thieves

2

15 February

FlyQuest

1

Leviatán

0

23 February

FlyQuest

2

100 Thieves

0

16 February

Team Liquid

3

Isurus Estral

1

22 February

Team Liquid

2

Team Liquid

2

16 February

Cloud9 KIA

1

Cloud9 KIA

2

LOUD

0

Split 2

Format

In both conferences, teams will first compete in a single round-robin best-of-one round called the Positioning Phase. The results of this phase determine the seeding for the Group Stage, with the teams split into two groups of four and competing in a single round-robin schedule of best-of-three games. After the Group Stage, the top two teams in each group, four total, advance to their conference's best-of-five Double-elimination tournament playoff bracket and play an additional seeding match, while the bottom two teams in each group will face each other for the final two playoff berths. ^[9] The winners in each conference will be crowned Conference Champions ^[10] and qualify for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational and Esports World Cup (alongside the LTA North runners-up for the latter). ^[6]

North

Positioning Phase

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
1	100 Thieves	0	0	0	—
2	Cloud9	0	0	0	—
3	Dignitas	0	0	0	—
4	Disguised	0	0	0	—
5	FlyQuest	0	0	0	—
6	LYON	0	0	0	—
7	Shopify Rebellion	0	0	0	—
8	Team Liquid	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Group Stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	1st in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to playoffs and seeding matches
2	4th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—
3	5th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to elimination matches
4	8th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	2nd in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to playoffs and seeding matches
2	3rd in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—
3	6th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to elimination matches
4	7th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Cross-Group matches

Seeding matches

	Seeding Series 1 TBD
	1st Group A
	1st Group B

	Seeding Series 2 TBD
	2nd Group A
	3rd Group B

Elimination matches

	Elimination Match 1 TBD
	3rd Group A
	4th Group B

	Elimination Match 2 TBD
	3rd Group B
	4th Group A

Playoffs

Upper semifinals

Upper final

Final

1

Winner Seeding Match 1

4

Loser Seeding Match 2

2

Loser Seeding Match 1

3

Winner Seeding Match 2

Lower quarterfinals

Lower semifinals

Lower final

5

Winner Elimination Match TBD

6

Winner Elimination Match TBD

South

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT
1	Fluxo w7m	0	0	0	—
2	FURIA	0	0	0	—
3	Isurus Estral	0	0	0	—
4	Keyd Stars	0	0	0	—
5	Leviatán	0	0	0	—
6	LOUD	0	0	0	—
7	paiN Gaming	0	0	0	—
8	RED Canids	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Group Stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	1st in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to playoffs and seeding matches
2	4th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—
3	5th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to elimination matches
4	8th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	2nd in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to playoffs and seeding matches
2	3rd in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—
3	6th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—	Advance to elimination matches
4	7th in Positioning Phase	0	0	0	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Cross-Group matches

Seeding matches

	Seeding Match 1 TBD
	1st Group A
	1st Group B

	Seeding Match 2 TBD
	2nd Group A
	3rd Group B

Elimination matches

	Elimination Match 1 TBD
	3rd Group A
	4th Group B

	Elimination Match 2 TBD
	3rd Group B
	4th Group A

Playoffs

Upper semifinals

Upper final

Final

1

Winner Seeding Match 1

4

Loser Seeding Match 2

2

Loser Seeding Match 1

3

Winner Seeding Match 2

Lower quarterfinals

Lower semifinals

Lower final

5

Winner Elimination Match TBD

6

Winner Elimination Match TBD

Split 3

The Americas Regional Championship will be held in a to-be-determined venue in LTA North.

Format

Split 3 will have a "Pick & Play" format for the initial stages of the split. Both conferences will have a similar format across six (6) weeks of play. The first week sees each team face each other based on the second split results, but after the first and second weeks the lowest-ranked teams pick their opponents. After the third week, a double elimination bracket is formed, with the top 4 teams seeded into the winner's bracket and the bottom 4 seeded into the loser's bracket. This bracket sees the best ranked teams pick their opponents for each of the two rounds.

After those two rounds, the remaining team in the winner's bracket plays in the "Worlds Qualifying Series" for the upper-bracket spot in the Americas Regional Championship and a slot at the 2025 League of Legends World Championship against the best remaining team based on record, with the two remaining sides competing for the final spot for their conference. All games in "Pick and Play"'s first three weeks are best-of-threes, while the double-elimination bracket is consisted entirely of best-of-fives (initially all matches bar the Worlds Qualifying Series and conference 3rd seed deciders were best-of-threes). ^[9]

In the Americas Regional Championship, the three remaining teams from each of the two conferences compete in a best-of-five Double elimination tournament bracket, with the winners of the "Worlds Qualifying Series" (the first two LTA representatives at Worlds 2025) starting in the upper bracket, with the remaining teams starting in the lower bracket. The winner of the finals will be crowned the LTA Champion and will earn the final LTA slot at the 2025 World Championship. ^[11]

If an LTA team finishes as a finalist at MSI 2025, it will have an additional fourth slot in the tournament.

Notes

1. 100 Thieves is a "provisional guest team", as their franchise slot was sold back to Riot Games. For 2025, they will participate like a franchised team in the LTA, meaning they can't be relegated.

References

1. "LoL Esports: Building Towards A Brighter Future". lolesports.com. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
2. Wilson, Jason (11 June 2024). "Riot Games rolls out consolidation plan, new spring event for League of Legends esports". Sports Business Journal . Retrieved 16 January 2025.
3. Taifalos, Nicholas; McIntyre, Isaac (11 June 2024). "LCS, CBLOL, LLA unified as Riot takes VALORANT-like approach to LoL esports". Dot Esports. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
4. Fudge, James (31 October 2024). "Teams, Format for League of Legends Championship of The Americas Revealed". The Esports Advocate. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
5. Ciocchetti, Cecilia (31 October 2024). "100 Thieves sells League franchise slot while Disguised takes the stage for LTA 2025". Dot Esports. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
6. "Welcome to the LTA". lolesports.com. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
7. "Cloud9 Announces Kia as New Entitlement Partner for League of Legends Team". Cloud9. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
8. Ciocchetti, Cecilia (16 March 2025). "Fearless Draft is here to stay: "Overwhelmingly positive feedback," says Riot's global head of LoL Esports". Dot Esports. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
9. "LTA Format Changes" (video). youtube.com. League of Legends Championship of The Americas. 21 March 2025.
10. "What you need to know about the LTA: 2025 LTA Address" (video). youtube.com. League of Legends Championship of The Americas. 14 January 2025.
11. "Introducing The LTA – 2025 Explainer" (video). youtube.com. League of Legends Championship of The Americas. 31 October 2024.