LoL Worlds 2025 format and dates confirmed

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 30/09/2025

Riot Games has confirmed all of the important details for the League of Legends (LoL) World Championships 2025.

Taking place in China, the event will see the best teams from the LEC, LTA, LCK, LPL, and LCP compete for the Summoner’s Cup.

With the Summer Split concluded, the LoL Worlds 2025 teams and seeds have already been decided.

And now Riot has locked in the format for the first-ever Worlds with Fearless Draft.

LoL Worlds 2025 format

Before the main event starts, the LoL World Championships will start with the usual Play-Ins, but in a very different format.

The Worlds 2025 Play-Ins will only feature one single series, a best-of-five between the only fourth seeds at the tournament.

After better performances at MSI earlier this year, Korea’s LCK and China’s LPL earned fourth seeds for their regions at Worlds.

Now, the LPL’s Invictus Gaming will battle the reigning World Champions, T1, to decide who competes in the Swiss Stage.

For the Swiss Stage itself, the 16 teams will compete across five rounds, with three wins earning Knockouts qualification and three losses spelling elimination.

The first round is seeded, but with a new small twist.

The Play-In winner will push their region’s third seed into Tier 2. Teams are split into the following three tiers:

• Tier 1 (5 Teams): #1 seeds from each region
• Tier 2 (6 Teams): #2 seeds from each region and the #3 seed from the Play-In winner’s region
• Tier 3 (5 Teams): Remaining #3 seeds and the Play-In winner

In the opening round, Tier 1 teams will face Tier 3 teams, and Tier 2 teams will face each other.

Despite the tournament using Fearless Draft, teams will then battle in best-of-ones – always facing teams with the same record.

That is, until teams reach qualification or elimination matches, which will be played as best-of-threes instead.

After that, the remaining eight teams will battle in a single-elimination format of best-of-fives until a champion is crowned.

The Knockouts draw will see the two 3-0 teams put on opposite sides of the bracket against teams with 3-2 records.

And then the remaining teams will randomly fill the remaining gaps.

LoL Worlds 2025 full schedule: dates and UK times

Here is a look at every scheduled day of LoL Worlds 2025 and what times UK viewers can watch the action unfold from China.

• Play-In Stage (Bo5) – Beijing
  • Tuesday, October 14 – 9am BST
• Swiss Stage (Bo1, Bo3) – Beijing
  • Wednesday, October 15 – 6am BST
  • Thursday, October 16 – 6am BST
  • Friday, October 17 – 9am BST
  • Saturday, October 18 – 9am BST
  • Sunday, October 19 – 9am BST 
  • Wednesday, October 22  – 9am BST
  • Thursday, October 23 – 9am BST
  • Friday, October 24 – 9am BST
  • Saturday, October 25 – 6am BST
• Knockout Stage (Bo5) – Shanghai and Chengdu
• (All matches begin at 3 p.m. CST / 9 a.m. CEST / 12 am PT)
  • Tuesday, October 28 (Quarter-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Wednesday, October 29 (Quarter-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Thursday, October 30 (Quarter-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Friday, October 31 (Quarter-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Saturday, November 1 (Semi-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Sunday, November 2 (Semi-finals) – 8am GMT
  • Sunday, November 9 (Final in Chengdu) – 8am GMT

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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