For the first time since 2020, Europe will have four representatives at this year’s League of Legends World Championship.
Today, Riot Games revealed the schedule and seeding for the game’s biggest tournament, in addition to confirming that because the LCL will not be participating, that extra spot will be given to the LEC. As a result, this spot was granted to the region that has had the best performance during international events over the past two years.
In 2020, Europe was the only Western region to have a team qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament. All of North America’s representatives were eliminated in groups, but the LEC’s Fnatic and G2 Esports were able to break into the next stage. G2 also reached the semifinals of the tournament, taking down the LCK’s Gen.G with a resounding sweep before falling at the hands of the eventual champions, DWG KIA.
The following year wasn’t as successful for Europe, but the region was still able to get a representative into the knockout stage. Fnatic were eliminated after only getting one win through groups, and Rogue barely missed the knockouts after losing to Cloud9 in a tiebreaker match. MAD Lions were the only team to reach the next stage, and they were swept in the first round by DWG KIA.
Even still, European teams have consistently reached the knockout stage and put up decent performances for their region. The LEC’s third and fourth-seeded teams start off the tournament in the play-in stage, while the top two seeds will kick things off in groups.
Worlds 2022 will begin on Thursday, Sept. 29.
