League of Legends Pro League

League of Legends Pro League

Current season, competition or edition: 2024 LPL season
Game	League of Legends
Founded	2013
Owner(s)	Tencent
Motto	"Crazy is our game" (无畏竞巅峰)
No. of teams	17
Country	China
Venue(s)	Shanghai (for most teams) Beijing (for JD Gaming ) Hangzhou (for LGD Gaming) Shenzhen (for Ninjas in Pyjamas) Suzhou (for LNG Esports) Xi'an (for Team WE)
Most recent champion(s)	Bilibili Gaming (2nd title) (Summer 2024)
Most titles	Edward Gaming (6 titles)
Sponsor(s)	Mercedes Benz, Li-Ning, Momchilovtsi, JingDong, War Horse Energy Drink, Wahaha Soda Drink, Lenovo, Intel, TT Yuyin, TGIF, Oppo, Mobil Oil, TCL, Tongcheng, Sānjīn xīguā shuāng, Durex
Domestic cup(s)	Demacia Cup
International cup(s)	World Championship Mid Season Invitational First Stand
Related competitions	League of Legends Development League
Official website	lpl.qq.com (Chinese)

The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) is the top-level professional league for League of Legends in China. The first season of the LPL was the 2013 Spring season. The top three finishers of the playoff tournament receive automatic bids to the League of Legends World Championship. Playoffs are an eight team single elimination with each step a best-of-five series. The total prize pool is ¥2,350,000. In 2014 Riot Games began providing an English language broadcast.^[1] The format is modeled after the League of Legends Champions Korea format in South Korea.^[2] In September 2015 it was announced that Riot Games was in negotiations with Tencent to take over operations of the league.^[3] In 2019, Riot Games and Tencent created joint venture, TJ Sports, to focus on all League of Legends esports business in China, including tournament organizing, talent management, and venues.^[4]

For the 2015 spring season the LPL adopted a best-of-two series. Teams compete in a double round robin.

From 2017 to 2018, the league used the same format as the EU LCS for selecting regular season groups.^[5] The highest ranked teams from the previous split headed the groups with other teams being selected. Matches were also best-of-three.

The LPL has used the following format from 2019 to 2021:

• Regular season:
  • All 16 teams compete in one group
  • Single round robin, all matches are best-of-three
• Top eight teams advance to playoffs
  • All matches are best-of-five
    • First and second place teams from the regular season begin in the semifinals (round 3)
    • Third and fourth place teams from the regular season begin in the quarterfinals (round 2)
    • Fifth to eighth place teams from the regular season begin in the round 1.

The LPL has used the following format from 2021:

• Regular season:
  • All 17 teams compete in one group
  • Single round robin, all matches are best-of-three
• Top ten teams advance to playoffs
  • All matches are best-of-five
  • Teams entering Game 7 and 8 have a second chance before being eliminated.
    • Ninth place team competes Eighth team from the regular season in Game 1.
    • Tenth place team competes Seventh team from the regular season in Game 2.
    • Winner of Game 1 competes with Fifth place team in Game 3.
    • Winner of Game 2 competes with Sixth place team in Game 4.
    • Winner of Game 3 competes with Fourth place team in Game 5.
    • Winner of Game 4 competes with Third place team in Game 6.
    • Winner of Game 5 competes with First place team in Game 7.
    • Winner of Game 6 competes with Second place team in Game 8.
    • Losers of Game 7 and Game 8 competes in Game 9.
    • Winners of Game 7 and Game 8 competes in Game 10.
    • Loser of Game 10 and Winner of Game 9 competes in Game 11.
    • Winners of Game 10 and Game 11 competes in Game 12 and decides the champion.

The finalists of the spring split represents China at the Mid-Season Invitational. The winner of the summer split (seed 1), the team with the most championship points (seed 2), and the winner and runners-up of the regional qualifier (seeds 3 & 4) qualify for the World Championship.

List of teams participating in LPL 2025 Split 1.

• Official website (Chinese)