Riot Games has announced the dates, venues, and format of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and LoL World Championship. MSI 2026 will take place in South Korea, and Worlds 2026 will be in North America.
Overall, the formats are mostly the same as in 2025, with a few tweaks for the play-in to adapt to a different number of teams.
MSI 2026 will take place at the Daejeon Convention Center II in South Korea. The play-in stage will run from June 28 to July 1, and the bracket stage from July 3 to 12.
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Daejeon, South Korea will host MSI 2026. Image Source: Riot Games
Eleven teams will be participating in MSI 2026.
The winner from each region starts in the bracket stage. The runner-up from the LPL joins them thanks to Bilibili Gaming’s win at First Stand. The remaining four teams will compete in the play-in stage.
The play-in stage is a double-elimination bracket, where the winner joins the other seven teams to round out the bracket stage roster. All matches are best-of-five, for a total of six matches in four days.
The bracket stage is another double-elimination bracket, the same as in 2025. Here as well, all matches are best-of-five.
The winner of MSI qualifies to the World Championship. If they already qualify through their region or fail to reach the playoffs, their slot will go to the fourth best region in their team. The second region that places the highest also gains a fourth Worlds spot.
Additionally, MSI 2026 will likely have a $2,000,000 prize pool. Based on past years, the likely schedule is as follows:
| Date | Matches |
|---|---|
| June 28 | Start of the play-in stage, upper bracket round 1 (matches 1 and 2) |
| June 29 | Upper bracket round 2, lower bracket round 1 |
| June 30 | Lower bracket round 2 |
| July 1 | Play-in finals |
| July 3 | Start of the bracket stage, upper bracket round 1 (matches 1 and 2) |
| July 4 | Upper bracket round 1 (matches 3 and 4) |
| July 5 | Lower bracket round 1 (matches 1 and 2) |
| July 6 | Upper bracket round 2 (matches 1 and 2) |
| July 8 | Lower bracket round 2 (matches 1 and 2) |
| July 9 | Upper finals |
| July 10 | Lower bracket round 3 |
| July 11 | Lower finals |
| July 12 | Grand finals |
The LoL Worlds 2026 will be held in Los Angeles, Allen, and Brooklyn.
| Stage | Venue | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Play-in Stage | Riot Games Arena, Los Angeles, California | October 15-18 |
| Swiss Stage | Credit Union of Texas Event Center, Allen, Texas | October 23-26 and October 28-31 |
| Knockout Stage: Quarters and Semis | Credit Union of Texas Event Center, Allen, Texas | November 3-8 |
| Knockout Stage: Grand Finals | Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York | November 14 |
Ticket sales for the LoL World Championship will open in the second half of July.
LoL Worlds 2026 will take place in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Image source: Riot Games
Nineteen teams will compete at the 2026 LoL World Championship.
Just like MSI, the format for Worlds 2026 will be identical as that of 2025 aside from the play-in. The Worlds play-in will have the same format as MSI’s.
The seeding for the teams will be decided later based on MSI performances. Therefore, which four teams will start in the play-in isn’t set yet.
We will likely once again see the two fourth seeds, the CBLOL 2nd seed, and the lowest seed from whichever region performed the worst at First Stand and MSI.
Exactly like MSI’s, the play-in stage for Worlds 2026 will be a double-elimination bracket. Four teams participate, only the winner advances to the Swiss stage. All matches are best-of-five, and the stage goes on over four days.
Afterwards, in the Swiss stage, all 16 teams play against opponents with the same score as them until they reach either three wins or three losses.
Three wins qualify for the Knockout stage whereas three losses are an elimination. All qualification and elimination matches are best-of-three, the others are best-of-one.
Eight teams qualify to the Knockout stage. As always, this stage is a single-elimination, best-of-five, bracket. The winner becomes the LoL World Champion and earns the king’s share of a prize pool of over $5,000,000.
Also read: LoL Pro settings guide – How to play League like the pros
Featured image source: Christina Oh / Riot Games
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