League of Legends Worlds 2025 Schedule, Venues and Key Dates

This is everything you need to know about the LoL Worlds 2025 schedule, as the tournament will kick off in October. The top 17 teams in the world will gather together in China to fight for glory and win a share of the $5 million prize pool. Following two successful international tournaments earlier in the season, the 2025 League of Legends World Championship is looking to be one of the most explosive and action-packed tournaments in history.

League of Legends Worlds 2025 Schedule

Unlike previous years, where Worlds kicks off in late September, this year’s edition will start in mid-October, waiting for the VALORANT Champions Tour to crown the winners in Paris. With that in mind, this year’s Worlds will last less than a month, with the world champions crowned on November 9.

The decision was made following feedback about the playoff stage having long breaks in between elimination matches, which somewhat impacted the hype and the stakes. This will be the first World Championship to adopt the Fearless Draft format, where champions picked by either team in a given series cannot be played again for the rest of the match.

Below is the full schedule for all stages at Worlds 2025.

Stage 1: Play-In Stage

• Dates: October 14, 2025
• Location: Beijing, JDG-Intel Esports Center

With the total number of teams being reduced from 20 to 17, the play-in stage will no longer span across multiple days during week 1. Instead, Riot Games gave fans an immediate opening banger as the #4 seeds from the LPL and the LCK will fight for the Swiss stage qualification. The teams will play a single best-of-five series: winner advances, loser goes home.

Stage 2: Swiss Stage

• Dates: October 15 – October 25, 2025
• Location: Beijing, JDG-Intel Esports Center

Once the 16 teams are locked in, they will have to play up to five rounds in the Swiss stage to determine which top 8 teams will advance. In the first two rounds, there will only be best-of-one series, followed by best-of-three for elimination or qualification matches. The last teams will be locked in on October 25, according to the official Worlds 2025 schedule, before teams move to Shanghai for the Knockout stage.

Stage 3: Quarterfinals and Semifinals

• Dates: October 28 – November 2, 2025
• Location: Shanghai, Mercedes-Benz Arena

The Mercedes-Benz Arena is a known venue for esports events, having previously hosted the VALORANT Shanghai Masters in 2024. Throughout five days, the top eight will battle it out to determine the two finalists.

Worlds 2025 Finals

• Date: November 9, 2025
• Location: Chengdu, Dong’An Sports Lake Park

The champion will be crowned in Chengdu, the host city that also crowned the 2024 MSI champions.