The League of Legends World Championship is the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament hosted by Riot Games and is the culmination of each season. Teams compete for the champion title, the 70-pound (32-kilogram) Summoner's Cup, and a multi-million-dollar championship prize. In 2018, the final was watched by 99.6 million people, breaking 2017's final's viewer record. The tournament has been praised for its ceremonial performances, while receiving attention worldwide due to its dramatic and emotional nature.
The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional League of Legends in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided into two splits, spring and summer, which conclude with a double-elimination tournament between the top eight teams. At the end of the season, the winner, runners-up and third-place team of the summer playoffs qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship.
Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as Faker, is a South Korean professional League of Legends player for T1. Formerly known as GoJeonPa on the Korean server, he was picked up by LCK team SK Telecom T1 in 2013 and has played as the team's mid laner since. He is widely considered to be the best League of Legends player of all time.
Team SoloMid (TSM), officially Team SoloMid FTX, is a professional esports organization based in the United States. It was founded in September 2009 by Andy "Reginald" Dinh. TSM currently fields players in League of Legends, Apex Legends, Valorant, Hearthstone, Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Magic: The Gathering Arena, and chess. The organization previously had a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team based in Denmark that later became Astralis and also briefly owned an Overwatch team.
Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional League of Legends team founded by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 and was incorporated into Cloud9 Esports, Inc. on September 6, 2016. Cloud9 has received US$78 million in total raised equity via venture capital funding and was ranked the world's second-most valuable esports organization in 2020.
The Garena Premier League (GPL) was a professional League of Legends esports league with teams in Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2012. The opening event took place on May 5 with Riot's CEO Brandon Beck, VP of Gaming Dustin Beck, Taiwanese game designer Jeff Lin, and Nikasaur attending personally. It is the first regional professional esports competition of League of Legends in the world. In last season - 2018 Spring - the league consists of 5 teams who are the champions of 5 national leagues in Southeast Asia. The top four teams of group stage are advanced to the playoff, which are held in a best-of-5 single elimination system.
The League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is the professional League of Legends esports league run by Riot Games in Europe, in which ten teams compete. Each annual season of play is divided into two splits, spring and summer, both consisting of nine weeks of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with play-off tournaments between the top six teams. At the end of the season, the top performing teams qualify for the annual League of Legends World Championship. The LEC represents the highest level of League of Legends play in Europe.
G2 Esports is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in League of Legends, Valorant, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege, and iRacing. The organization was founded in Spain on 24 February 2014 as Gamers2 by former League of Legends pro Carlos "Ocelote" Rodríguez Santiago and investor Jens Hilgers. The organization rebranded as G2 Esports on 15 October 2015.
Team Vitality is a French esports organisation founded in August 2013 by Fabien Devide and Nicolas Maurer. It has several professional teams and content creators from across Europe and India.
The League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) was a professional League of Legends esports tournament in Southeast Asia that was founded in 2018 by Garena as a replacement for the Garena Premier League (GPL). The competition consisted of teams who qualified through the LST qualifiers of each minor region: Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand. Winners of the LST represented Southeast Asia at the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship.
Excel Esports is a British esports organisation with active rosters in League of Legends, Fortnite Battle Royale, and Valorant. Its main League of Legends division is one of ten teams competing in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), the top level of professional League of Legends in Europe.
Hong Kong Attitude (HKA) is a professional esports organisation based in Hong Kong. Its parent company is Hong Kong Esports, and all of its teams were previously known by that name from October 2014 to 16 May 2017.
DetonatioN Gaming is a Japanese professional esports organization with teams competing across several titles. It was originally established as a Counter-Strike Online team in July 2012.
Vega Squadron is a Russian professional esports organization based in Moscow. It was originally formed as a StarCraft II team on 10 July 2012. Currently, the organization has players competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, FIFA, and League of Legends.
Isurus, formerly known as Isurus Gaming, is an Argentinian professional esports organization with teams competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and League of Legends. Its League of Legends team is the first champion of the Liga Latinoamérica (LLA), winning both its inaugural opening cup and closing cup in 2019. These two championships qualified Isurus for the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational and the 2019 World Championship respectively.
The Pacific Championship Series (PCS) is a professional esports league for League of Legends players competing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia. Its creation was officially announced by Riot Games on 19 December 2019, after Garena, which ran the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) and League of Legends SEA Tour (LST), announced in September that it was planning to merge the two leagues. The PCS has ten teams: four from Taiwan, two from Hong Kong, and four from Southeast Asia.
Talon Esports is a professional esports organisation based in Hong Kong with teams competing across the Asia Pacific. Its League of Legends team is known as PSG Talon due to its partnership with PSG Esports, and competes in the Pacific Championship Series, the top-level league for the game in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia. Its Overwatch team competes in Overwatch Contenders, a developmental league for the Overwatch League.
The 2020 LCS season was the third year under partnership and eighth overall of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), a professional esports league for the MOBA PC game League of Legends. It was the first year that the league used a double elimination bracket for its playoff format. Championship points and the regional finals were also removed from the World Championship qualification process.
PSG Talon is a professional League of Legends team formed from a partnership between PSG Esports and Talon Esports. Talon Esports' original League of Legends team was founded on 18 December 2019.
The League of Legends division of Cloud9 (C9) is a gaming team based in Los Angeles, California, and competes in the League Championship Series (LCS), the top-level professional league for video game League of Legends in the United States and Canada.
