Worlds is back in North America, and it starts in eight days. The 2026 League of Legends World Championship runs from October 15 to November 14, opens with a Play-In in Los Angeles, spends almost three weeks in Allen, Texas, and ends with the Final at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday, November 14. Riot's theme this year is "THIS IS OUR MOMENT."
This guide puts the whole tournament in one place: every date and venue, start times converted to Central time, all 19 qualified teams and their seeds, how the Play-In, Swiss Stage and Knockouts work, which Round 1 matchups are possible, the patch, Fearless Draft, the prize pool, Pick'Ems dates and how to watch. Everything here comes from Riot's Worlds 2026 primer (published October 5), the official 2026 World Championship Event-Specific Ruleset, Riot's MSI and Worlds venue announcement and the updated start times Riot posted with the venue policies. When something is our own reading or comes from a third party, we say so.
For the build all of this will be played on, read our Patch 26.20 Worlds patch notes guide. Patch 26.20 is scheduled to go live today, October 7.
Worlds 2026 Dates and Venues
Riot splits the event into three stages. The Play-In Stage runs October 15-18, the Swiss Stage runs October 23-31 and the Knockout Stage runs November 3-14.
A few things worth knowing about the venues:
- The Play-In moved to Los Angeles. Riot originally planned to start in Texas, then said "due to a few logistical challenges" it would host the Play-In at the Riot Games Arena instead.
- Allen hosts most of the event. The Credit Union of Texas Event Center, just north of Dallas, hosts the Swiss Stage, the quarterfinals and the semifinals. The venue says this is the first time those three stages have been held in a single city and a single venue.
- There are breaks. No matches are scheduled October 19-22, October 27, or November 1-2, and there is a gap from November 9 to the Final on November 14.
- The Final is in Brooklyn. Barclays Center hosts the Final on November 14, and Riot is running a Worlds Fan Fest at Pier 36 in Lower Manhattan from November 12 to 14.
Start Times in Central Time
Riot posted updated broadcast start times on its Worlds 2026 venue policy page. Here are the official listed times, with our conversions for US time zones. The Europe and Korea columns are Riot's own listings.
Daylight saving time catches people out every year, so double-check two things:
- Europe switches first. Clocks in Europe go back on October 25, which is why Riot lists Swiss days from October 25 onward in CET instead of CEST.
- The US switches November 1. The quarterfinals and semifinals are listed at 4 PM CST, which is still 4 PM in Allen. The Final is listed at 2 PM EST, which is 1 PM Central.
All 19 Qualified Teams and Seeds
Nineteen teams qualify this year. The ruleset gives four berths each to the LPL and LCK, three each to the LEC, LCS and LCP, and two to the CBLOL. Riot's primer lists the qualified teams, and its draw tiers show each team's regional seed:
Why Korea and China get four teams
Back in March, Riot said the Worlds field would include three teams each from the five major leagues, two from the CBLOL, the MSI champion, and one more team from the region that finished second at MSI. Hanwha Life Esports won MSI 2026 in Daejeon on July 12, beating Bilibili Gaming 3-2 in the final (reported by the Korea Herald and Dot Esports). That is why the LCK and the LPL each send four teams.
The CBLOL Final decides one more seed
Both Brazilian teams are already in. LOS and FURIA play the CBLOL Final on October 10, and the winner becomes CBLOL1 and goes straight to the Swiss Stage (Pool 2). The loser becomes CBLOL2 and plays in the Play-In. Riot's primer still shows placeholder slots for those two seeds.
Storylines going in
- T1 are going for a fourth title in a row. T1 beat KT Rolster 3-2 in the 2025 Final in Chengdu for a third straight title and their sixth overall, according to the Korea Herald and Dexerto. This year they come in as LCK3.
- HLE arrive as MSI champions and the LCK2 seed.
- NA plays at home. Team Liquid Alienware enters as LCS1 (we covered how Liquid locked its Swiss berth in our Team Liquid Worlds 2026 recap). LYON enter Swiss as LCS2, and Cloud9 Kia have to survive the Play-In.
Play-In Stage Format
The Play-In is short and brutal. Four teams play a best-of-five, double elimination bracket, and only the winner advances to the Swiss Stage.
The four Play-In teams are Karmine Corp (LEC3), Cloud9 Kia (LCS3), MVK Esports (LCP3) and the CBLOL2 seed. The draw is fully random, so any team can play any other, and it takes place right after the CBLOL Final on October 10.
Here is how the bracket works, according to the ruleset:
- Round 1: two Bo5 matches.
- Round 2: the two Round 1 winners play each other, and the two Round 1 losers play each other. The loser of the losers' match is out in 19th place.
- Round 3: the loser of the winners' match plays the winner of the losers' match. The loser finishes 18th.
- Round 4: the winners' match winner plays the Round 3 winner. The loser finishes 17th, and the winner goes to Swiss.
Swiss Stage Format
Sixteen teams play up to five rounds. Three match wins sends a team to the Knockouts. Three losses sends them home. Teams always play opponents with the same record, and nobody plays the same opponent twice in Swiss.
The ruleset spells out which matches are Bo1 and which are Bo3: "Initial matches will be best-of-one, and any match that determines advancement or elimination will be best-of-three."
The likely dates come from the draw schedule in the ruleset, which runs each new draw right after the previous day's matches (Round 3 after October 24, Round 4 after October 26, Round 5 after October 30). Riot has not published a match-by-match Swiss schedule yet, so treat the date column as our reading.
Final placements in Swiss pay out by the round you go out in. Teams eliminated in Round 3 finish 15th-16th, Round 4 finishes 12th-14th, and Round 5 finishes 9th-11th.
Round 1 draw pools
Round 1 is drawn on October 18, right after the Play-In ends. Teams are split into four pools. Pool 1 plays Pool 4, and Pool 2 plays Pool 3.
There is one more rule: no same-region matchups in Round 1. From Round 2 on, same-region matches are allowed. Putting those rules together, here are the possible Round 1 opponents for the teams in Pools 1 and 2 (our reading of the ruleset):
The ruleset also says that if a draw would force a same-region matchup later in that draw, the drawn team moves to the next open slot. So the order teams come out of the pot can affect who gets whom.
Knockout Stage Format
Eight teams make the Knockouts, and every match from here is a best-of-five, single elimination.
The quarterfinal draw happens on October 31, right after Swiss ends, and it is not a straight seeding. According to the ruleset:
- The two 3-0 teams are randomly drawn against two of the 3-2 teams.
- Those two 3-0 vs 3-2 matches go on opposite sides of the bracket, so the two undefeated teams cannot meet before the Final.
- The remaining four teams (the three 3-1 teams and the last 3-2 team) are randomly paired into the other two quarterfinals.
Side and pick choice
Every series has one team with the Right of First Selection for Game 1. That team picks either its preferred pick order or its preferred map side, and the opponent gets the other choice. Here is who gets it:
- Play-In Rounds 1-3: coin flip.
- Swiss: the team with the higher regional seed. Coin flip if the seeds match.
- Quarterfinals: the team with the better Swiss record. Draw order breaks ties.
- Semifinals and Final: coin flip.
Patch 26.20 and Fearless Draft
The ruleset is direct: "The WCE will be played on the 26.20 patch." Riot can disable any champion, item, rune or skin at any time, including during a match. Our Patch 26.20 guide covers the nerfs to Ambessa, K'Sante, Ashe, Cassiopeia and Yunara, the fringe buffs and the Rocketbelt changes.
On Fearless Draft, Riot's 2026 International Events competition ruleset includes rules for picking or banning an unavailable champion "during a Fearless Draft match." Third-party format guides report that Worlds 2026 uses Fearless in its Bo3 and Bo5 series, as Worlds did in 2025. Under Fearless, a champion picked by either team earlier in a series cannot be picked again by either team in that series. It has no effect on a Bo1, so Swiss Rounds 1 and 2 and the 1-1 matches in Round 3 play like a normal tournament draft.
In practice this means:
- Bo1s reward comfort picks and the strongest champions on 26.20.
- Bo3s and Bo5s reward champion pool depth. By Game 4 or 5 of a Bo5, a lot of the top picks are gone.
- Ranked drafts will look different from pro drafts. Solo queue has no Fearless rule, so the champions you see in Game 5 of a semifinal may not be the ones that are strongest for you.
Prize Pool
The ruleset sets the pool at $5 million, provided by the tournament organizer. Every team gets paid:
Pick'Ems and Crystal Ball
Pick'Ems and Crystal Ball are back, with new rewards. You can play at lolesports.com/pickems or in the League client, and you need a Riot Account. Key dates from the primer:
If you think you earned a Pick'Ems reward and it has not shown up by November 21, Riot says to contact Player Support. Riot also says reward eligibility can vary by region, and Pick'Ems is not available in a short list of places, including regions where League is published by a local publisher such as China.
How to Watch Worlds 2026
The official broadcast is on lolesports.com and the official LoL Esports channels. Riot's primer lists these participating Twitch channels for Worlds subscriptions:
- twitch.tv/riotgames
- twitch.tv/cblol
- twitch.tv/lolesportsla
- twitch.tv/lolesportstw
- twitch.tv/leagueoflegendsjp
If you are going in person, check the venue rules first. Riot's event policy page notes that re-entry is allowed with a wristband during the Swiss Stage (October 23-31) but not during the quarterfinals and semifinals, and Barclays Center does not allow re-entry for the Final. Children under 13 must be with an adult.
Worlds In-Game Content and Fan Fest
Riot is running the usual Worlds tie-ins in the client:
- True Damage Know My Name Yasuo is this year's featured Worlds skin, with chromas and bundles.
- The Worlds 2026 pass includes a Prestige Chroma and a Prestige Emote, with premium options for extra Mythic Essence and pass levels.
- Team icons and regional emotes return for the LPL, LEC, LCK, LCS, LCP and CBLOL.
- Elite Worlds Winner Chromas honor the 2013 SKT T1 K championship skins.
- The International Tournament Skin Promotion returns. After the Final, eligible skins the winning team used will be 33% off. Prestige, Ultimate, Mythic Variant, Exalted and Transcendent skins are excluded.
Worlds Fan Fest at Pier 36 runs November 12-14 with developer panels, guests and partner activations. Riot lists it as 3-9 PM EST on Thursday and Friday (2-8 PM CT) and 11 AM-8 PM EST on Saturday (10 AM-7 PM CT).
If you are planning to play more ranked during Worlds, AccountShark's League of Legends listings are an option if you would rather start on an account that already has the champions you want to copy from the pros.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Worlds 2026 start?
Worlds 2026 starts on Thursday, October 15, 2026, with the Play-In Stage at Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles. Play-In matches begin at 11 AM PDT, which is 1 PM Central. The Swiss Stage starts October 23 in Allen, Texas.
When and where is the Worlds 2026 Final?
The Final is on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It starts at 2 PM EST, which is 1 PM Central and 11 AM Pacific.
How many teams are at Worlds 2026?
Nineteen. The LCK and LPL have four teams each, the LEC, LCS and LCP have three each, and the CBLOL has two. Fifteen teams go straight to the Swiss Stage, and four start in the Play-In, where only one advances.
How does the Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage work?
Sixteen teams play up to five rounds against opponents with the same record. Three wins advances a team to the Knockouts, and three losses eliminates it. Matches are best-of-one unless they decide advancement or elimination, in which case they are best-of-three.
Which teams are in the Worlds 2026 Play-In?
Karmine Corp, Cloud9 Kia, MVK Esports and the loser of the October 10 CBLOL Final between LOS and FURIA. The Play-In is a best-of-five double elimination bracket, and only the winner moves on to Swiss.
What patch is Worlds 2026 played on?
Patch 26.20, according to the official ruleset. Riot says 26.20 is the patch for "year-defining competitive play," and it is scheduled to go live on October 7.
Does Worlds 2026 use Fearless Draft?
Riot's 2026 international ruleset includes Fearless Draft rules, and third-party format guides report it applies to Worlds 2026 Bo3 and Bo5 series, as it did in 2025. In a Fearless series, a champion picked earlier in the series cannot be picked again by either team. It does not affect Bo1 matches.
What is the Worlds 2026 prize pool?
The ruleset lists a $5 million prize pool. The champion gets $1,000,000 (20%), second place gets $800,000, and every team down to 19th place is paid, with 19th receiving $30,000.
What time is Worlds 2026 in Central time?
Play-In days start at 1 PM CT. Swiss days start at 12 PM CT, except October 28-30, which start at 3 PM CT. Quarterfinals and semifinals start at 4 PM CT, and the Final starts at 1 PM CT.
When do Worlds 2026 Pick'Ems open?
Crystal Ball and Play-In picks open on October 10 at 4 PM PDT (6 PM CDT) and lock before the first Play-In match on October 15. Swiss picks open October 18, and Knockout picks open October 31.
Final Take
Riot said in March that the format would largely mirror 2025, with changes limited to the Play-In and regional seeding. The big one is an extra CBLOL slot, which turns the Play-In into a four-team Bo5 bracket where only one team gets out. Everything else is familiar. Swiss tests consistency over a week in Allen, Fearless rewards deep champion pools in the bigger series, and the quarterfinal draw keeps the two undefeated teams apart until Brooklyn.
The next dates to watch are October 10, when the CBLOL Final sets the last seeds and the Play-In draw happens, and October 18, when the Swiss Round 1 draw is made. Set your reminders for 1 PM Central on October 15, and enjoy the first Worlds on North American soil since 2022.
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