// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did 2025 Esports World Cup say to League of Legends? "You're a game-changer.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Location | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Dates | July 16–20 |
| Administrator | Esports World Cup Foundation Supervised by ESL and sanctioned by Riot Games |
Tournament format(s) | 8 team GSL-style group stage 8 team single-elimination bracket |
| Teams | 12 |
| Final positions | |
| Champion | Gen.G |
| Runner-up | AG.AL |
| MVP | Kim "Kiin" Gi-in (Gen.G) |
The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game League of Legends had a tournament at the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 16 to 20, 2025. Twelve teams took part in this tournament – three from the LTA (Americas), two each from the LCK (Korea), LCP (Asia-Pacific), LEC (EMEA) and LPL (China), and the defending champions T1. Teams qualified based on their qualification for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) through their placement within their regional leagues, with their seeding in the EWC tournament being determined by their performance at MSI.
It was the second League of Legends tournament at the EWC and the first under a three-year partnership between game developer Riot Games and the Esports World Cup Foundation to bring League of Legends, Valorant, and Teamfight Tactics into the event until 2027.[1] Gen.G of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) won the tournament, defeating AG.AL of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) 3–2 in the final.[2][3]
Format
[edit]In the group stage, the eight teams (the six teams that finished from 5th to 10th during the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational and the two teams did not qualify for MSI) were divided into two groups of four and will compete in a GSL-style group stage double-elimination bracket, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the playoffs. All matches in the group stage were best-of-ones.
In the playoffs, the teams that qualified through the group stage joined the top four teams from MSI 2025 to compete in an eight-team single-elimination bracket. Matches in the quarter-finals and semi-finals are best-of-three; the final will be a best-of-five.[4] The teams that lost in the semifinals will compete in a third-place match. All playoff matches will be best-of-threes, but the final will be a best-of-five.
Qualification
[edit]2024 tournament winners T1 automatically qualified for the 2025 edition by virtue of being defending champions. The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), League of Legends Pro League (LPL), League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) will have two representatives each, all of whom are qualified teams for MSI 2025. The League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA) will have three representatives – the top two teams from the North Conference and the South Conference champions – all from Split 2.
Qualified teams
[edit]| Region | League | Team | Path | MSI Result | Qualified Phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | LCK | T1 | EWC 2024 Champions Road to MSI Qualification Match 2 winner |
2nd | Playoffs |
| Gen.G | Road to MSI Qualification Match 1 winner | 1st | Playoffs | ||
| Hanwha Life Esports | Road to MSI third-ranked team[a] | DNQ | Group Stage | ||
| Asia-Pacific | LCP | CTBC Flying Oyster | Mid-Season Qualifying Series finalists | 6th | Group Stage |
| GAM Esports | 9th | Group Stage | |||
| EMEA | LEC | G2 Esports | Spring Split finalists | 8th | Group Stage |
| Movistar KOI | 7th | Group Stage | |||
| China | LPL | AG.AL[b] | Stage 2 finalists | 3rd | Playoffs |
| Bilibili Gaming | 4th | Playoffs | |||
| Americas | LTA | FlyQuest | LTA North Split 2 finalists | 5th | Group Stage |
| Cloud9 KIA | DNQ[c] | Group Stage | |||
| FURIA | LTA South Split 2 champion | 10th | Group Stage |
Draw
[edit]The results of the draw for the group stage were announced on 11 July 2025.[5]
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Cloud9 | CTBC Flying Oyster |
| FlyQuest | GAM Esports |
| FURIA | Hanwha Life Esports |
| G2 Esports | Movistar KOI |
Group stage
[edit]- Dates: 16–17 July 2025
- Eight teams were drawn into four groups of four teams each. Teams from the same region cannot be placed in the same group.
- Double elimination; all matches are best-of-one
- The eight teams consisting the teams that finished 5th-8th at MSI 2025 and the third-ranked team from the LCK and the second-ranked team from the LTA North.
Group A
[edit]| Initial Match | Winners Match | Playoffs Qualified | |||||||||||
| 16 July, 15:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| FlyQuest | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 16 July, 17:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| Cloud9 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| G2 Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 16 July, 14:00 AST | G2 Esports | ||||||||||||
| FlyQuest | 0 | ||||||||||||
| G2 Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Furia Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
| 17 July, 13:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| 16 July, 19:00 AST | Furia Esports | 0 | |||||||||||
| FlyQuest | |||||||||||||
| Cloud9 | 0 | FlyQuest | 1 | ||||||||||
| Furia Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
Group B
[edit]| Initial Match | Winners Match | Playoffs Qualified | |||||||||||
| 16 July, 12:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| CTBC Flying Oyster | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 16 July, 16:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| Hanwha Life Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Hanwha Life Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 16 July, 13:00 AST | Hanwha Life Esports | ||||||||||||
| Movistar KOI | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Movistar KOI | 1 | ||||||||||||
| GAM Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Elimination Match | Decider Match | ||||||||||||
| 17 July, 12:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| 16 July, 18:00 AST | Movistar KOI | 1 | |||||||||||
| Movistar KOI | |||||||||||||
| CTBC Flying Oyster | 1 | CTBC Flying Oyster | 0 | ||||||||||
| GAM Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
Playoffs
[edit]- Dates: 17–20 July 2025
- Matchups were determined by a draw
- Eight teams consisting of the top four teams from MSI 2025 and the four teams that qualified from the group stage
- Single elimination; matches in quarterfinals and semifinals are best-of-threes; final is best-of-five
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| 18 July, 15:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| Gen.G | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 19 July, 12:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| FlyQuest | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Gen.G | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 17 July, 17:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| G2 Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| G2 Esports | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 20 July, 15:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| Bilibili Gaming | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Gen.G | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 17 July, 14:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| AG.AL | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Hanwha Life Esports | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 19 July, 15:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| AG.AL | 2 | ||||||||||||
| AG.AL | 2 | Third place | |||||||||||
| 18 July, 12:00 AST | |||||||||||||
| T1 | 0 | 20 July, 11:00 AST | |||||||||||
| Movistar KOI | 1 | ||||||||||||
| T1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| T1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| G2 Esports | 0 | ||||||||||||
Ranking
[edit]The tournament had a total prize pool of US$2,000,000, doubled from the 2024 tournament.[6] It was distributed as shown below.[7][8]
| Place | Team | Region | Prize (%) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gen.G | LCK | 30% | $600,000 |
| 2nd | AG.AL | LPL | 16% | $320,000 |
| 3rd | T1 | LCK | 11.5% | $230,000 |
| 4th | G2 Esports | LEC | 8% | $160,000 |
| 5th–8th | Hanwha Life Esports | LCK | 5.5% | $110,000 |
| Bilibili Gaming | LPL | |||
| Movistar KOI | LEC | |||
| FlyQuest | LTA | |||
| 9th–10th | CTBC Flying Oyster | LCP | 3.75% | $75,000 |
| FURIA | LTA | |||
| 11th–12th | GAM Esports | LCP | 2.5% | $50,000 |
| Cloud9 | LTA |
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Since T1 already qualified before winning the second qualification match of Road to MSI, Hanwha Life Esports qualified for the EWC by virtue of being the third best team, and will enter the group stage.
- ↑ Due to the Esports World Cup requiring all divisions of a club to have unified branding for the Club Championship, Anyone's Legend played as AG.AL during the tournament, as they are part of the Chinese organization All Gamers.
- ↑ As only FlyQuest could qualify for MSI as LTA North champions, Cloud9 were guaranteed entry into the group stage for EWC.
References
[edit]- ↑ Fudge, James (February 10, 2025). "Riot Games Signs Three-Year Deal with the Esports World Cup Foundation". The Esports Advocate. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ↑ Lee Yoon-seo (July 21, 2025). "Gen.G clinches 2025 EWC championship, following MSI victory". The Korea Herald.
- ↑ Lawrence Serafico; Duncan Proctor. "EWC 2025 Week 2 Recap: Dota, LoL, Free Fire, MWI champions claim victory". Esports Insider. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
- ↑ DeSena, Gabby (May 17, 2025). "2025 Esports World Cup League of Legends Schedule, Format, Prize Pool". Esports Illustrated. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
- ↑ Boksner, Leo (July 11, 2025). "LoL: EWC announces Group Draw". Sheep Esports. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
- ↑ Murko, Dmytro (July 18, 2025). "EWC 2025: Full overview of prize pools and games lineup". Esports Charts. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
- ↑ DeSena, Gabby (July 21, 2025). "Esports World Cup: All Winners, Placements and Prize Money". Esports Illustrated. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
- ↑ "League of Legends | Esports World Cup". Esports World Cup. Archived from the original on July 29, 2025. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
External links
[edit]Esports World Cup official website
