Riot Games unveils Worlds 2025 Schedule and Locations

Riot Games has officially announced the schedule and locations for the Worlds 2025, with the tournament returning to China later this October. Unlike previous years, the tournament will be starting a little later than usual, one week after the end of the VALORANT Champions Tour in Paris.

Worlds 2025 will kick off on October 14 in Beijing

The tournament will be taking place across three cities, just like last year’s edition. Starting off in Beijing, Worlds will then move to Shanghai for the first part of the Knockout stage and will have the grand final take place in Chengdu, the hosting city of the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational. It will be the third time China will host the event after holding the 2017 and 2020 editions. Details for the ticket sales will be released at a later date.

Play-In & Swiss Stages, October 14–25

The first part of Worlds 2025 will be held at the Beijing Smart Esports Center, a venue built specifically for premier esports events. With nearly 68,000 square meters of space, the venue is also home to the JDG-Intel Esports Center, the home venue for the LPL team JDG Esports.

On October 14, there will be a best-of-five series between the fourth seeds from the LPL and LCK (two top-performing regions at MSI 2025). The winner will advance to the Knockout stage, which kicks off on the following day. Over the next 10 days, the 16 teams will be fighting for a spot in the top eight and a ticket to the next stop, Shanghai.

Knockout Stage, October 28–November 2

In Shanghai, the top eight teams will battle for survival at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, a venue known for hosting last year’s VALORANT Masters Shanghai and the 2023 LPL Spring Finals. The top eight squads will be reduced to two, as the two finalists will then have a one-week break before they play their most important series of the year.

Finals –November 9

The Grand Final will then move to Chengdu at the Dong’an Lake Sports Park. Opened in May 2021, it has three different venues with a combined footprint of approximately 200,000 square meters. The venue used for the Worlds 2025 Finals will be the Multifunctional Gymnasium, which has a total capacity of 18,000 people. When it comes to gaming and esports, the venue was used last year for the ‘Peace Night’ event on Peacekeeper Elite (Chinese version of PUBG Mobile), as well as the Honor of Kings annual anniversary in October 2024.

Gen.G is the first team to qualify for Worlds after winning MSI, the earliest in League history

After taking the crown at both MSI and the Esports World Cup, Gen.G is currently the undisputed No. 1 team in the world. Following their win against Hanwha Life Esports in the opening match of the LCK Rounds 3-5, Gen.G has secured enough wins to qualify for the LCK Season Finals, and therefore, will get a guaranteed seed at Worlds. All the other teams from the five major regions (LEC, LPL, LCK, LTA, and LCP) will have to fight their way into Worlds through their respective Split 3.

Worlds 2025 Key Dates

• Play-in stage – October 14, Beijing
• Swiss Stage – October 15–25, Beijing
• Knockout Stage – October 28–November 2, Shanghai
• Finals – November 9, Chengdu