// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did KeSPA Cup say to its date? "You're a match.
| KeSPA Cup | |
|---|---|
 2025 KeSPA Cup logo | |
| Genre | Esports |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location | Asia |
| Country | South Korea |
| Inaugurated | 2005 |
Most recent | 2025 |
| Website | http://e-sports.or.kr/kespacup/ |
The KeSPA Cup (Korean: 케스파컵) is an esports event organized by the Korean eSports Association. As of the 2025 edition, the tournament is organized for League of Legends. Until 2016, the tournament was also organized for StarCraft II.
History
[edit]The first KeSPA cup was hosted in 2005 as a tournament to allow professional StarCraft teams to play against amateur teams. Events were also held for Special Force, Kartrider, and FreeStyle Street Basketball. The second event was held in 2007 at Sejong University and also included WarCraft III and Counter-Strike.[1]
In 2014, seven years since the last event, KeSPA Cup was brought back for its modern iteration and it has been held every year since. StarCraft II was the only game that had a tournament in the relaunch of the initiative and it featured 16 of the year's best players playing for 8 million South Korean won.[2] The following year, two tournaments for StarCraft II were held, the first in May and the second in July. League of Legends was added as one of the events in 2015.[3]
In 2016, Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft became the first non-Korean StarCraft player to win a major Korean tournament in sixteen years after winning the 2016 KeSPA Cup. The previous non-Korean champion was Guillaume Patry, who won the first OnGameNet StarLeague in 2000.[4]
Tournaments
[edit]StarCraft
[edit]The format for the original StarCraft KeSPA Cup was a team based event where professional teams under KeSPA played against amateur teams. There have been no more tournaments held for StarCraft since 2007.
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winners |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The First KeSPA Cup | Samsung |
| 2007 | The Second KeSPA Cup | MBC Game Hero |
StarCraft II
[edit]KeSPA Cup was relaunched with a StarCraft II tournament. All of the tournaments are all part of the StarCraft II World Championship Series and thus award WCS points to the participants. The format for the tournament is a sixteen player elimination tournament starting with group stages and entering a playoffs round in the round of 8.
| Year | Name of Tournament | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Prize pool (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014 KeSPA Cup | Joo "Zest" Sung-wook | 4–1 | Kim "herO" Joon-ho | 80,000,000 |
| 2015 | GiGA Internet 2015 KeSPA Cup Season 1 | Kim "herO" Joon-ho | 4–3 | Park "Dark" Ryung-woo | 25,000,000 |
| 2015 | LOTTE Homeshopping 2015 KeSPA Cup Season 2 | Eo "soO" Yoon-su | 4–1 | Park "Dark" Ryung-woo | 25,000,000 |
| 2016 | 2016 KeSPA Cup | Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft | 4–0 | Cho "Trap" Sung-ho | 55,000,000 |
League of Legends
[edit]League of Legends was added as a recurring event in 2015. Fourteen teams competed in the 2025 edition, including all ten teams of the League of Legends Champions Korea and four invited teams.[5]
| Year | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Prize pool (KRW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | ESC Ever | 3–0 | CJ Entus | 100,000,000 |
| 2016 | ROX Tigers | 3–1 | Kongdoo Monster | 100,000,000 |
| 2017 | KT Rolster | 3–2 | Longzhu Gaming | 100,000,000 |
| 2018 | Griffin | 3–0 | Gen.G | 102,000,000[6] |
| 2019 | Afreeca Freecs | 3–0 | Sandbox Gaming | 158,000,000[7] |
| 2020 | Damwon Gaming | 3–0 | Nongshim RedForce | 144,000,000[8] |
| 2021 | DWG KIA Challengers | 3–1 | Fredit BRION Challengers | 30,000,000[9] |
| 2022 | Not held | |||
| 2023 | ||||
| 2024 | OKSavingsBank Brion | 3–1 | Dplus KIA | 80,000,000[10] |
| 2025 | T1 | 3–2 | Hanwha Life Esports | 100,000,000[11] |
References
[edit]- ↑ "Kespa Cup Bracket". 4 March 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ↑ "[스타2] KeSPA Cup 부활! 올해는 스타크래프트2 글로벌 티어1 대회로 진행" [[StarCraft 2] KeSPA Cup Revival! Announcing a Global Tier 1 StarCraft 2 Tournament] (in Korean). 21 May 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ↑ "KESPA CUP IS COMING". 3 November 2015. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ↑ "Neeb first non-Korean in 16 years to win premier South Korean StarCraft tourney". 4 October 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ↑ "LoL: T1, HLE, C9 and Liquid to debut 2026 rosters at KeSPA Cup". Sheep Esports. 4 December 2025. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
- ↑ Woo "Ready" Hyun (6 December 2018). "The 2018 KeSPA Cup Tournament Will Begin Mid-December". Inven Global. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
- ↑ Takyun "Laff" Pack; Daniel "Quest" Kwon (11 December 2019). "League of Legends: It's back! The 2019 KeSPA Cup starts on the 23rd". Inven Global. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ↑ Martinello, Eva (17 December 2020). "Group stage schedule and casters revealed for 2020 KeSPA Cup". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ↑ "2021 KeSPA컵, 10일 울산서 개막". Kukmin Ilbo (in Korean). 10 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ↑ "The KeSPA Cup, which has been revived in three years, opens on the 30t". SportsChosun. 1 December 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ↑ "LoL KeSPA Cup Exclusive To Disney+ Opens With International Congress On Dec. 6". SportsChosun. 19 November 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in Korean)
