A few days before the start of the competitive season, the organizers revealed the starting date of the LPL 2023 Spring Split. This year will also be the Chinese League’s 10th anniversary and the LPL will feature a new logo to commemorate the event.
The spring split format will be the same one as last year’s, with the winner representing the region at the Mid-Season Invitational, which is reportedly heading to London in 2023.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 LPL start date.
2023 LPL Spring Split starting date and schedule
China is known for being the first major region to start its competition and this year is no different. The 2023 LPL Spring Split will officially start on Saturday Jan. 14, at 1am CT, with a total of six series in week one. In particular, the first matchday will feature JD Gaming versus Bilibili Gaming: Mid laner Zeng “Yagao” Qi will face his former team who he played with at the 2022 World League of Legends Championship. JDG was eliminated by the finalists T1 in the semifinals.
Week one will also include the debut match of the rebranded team Ninjas in Pyjamas, previously known as Victory Five. The Swedish esports organization announced the merger with the Chinese esports brand ESV5 in 2021 and will now have a new name in the LPL. This marks their first return to the League competitive scene since 2018 when they were competing in the Nordic Championship.
The format and time schedule will be the same as the one had in 2022, with the 17 teams competing first in a single round robin of Bo3 matches. There will be a total of 10 weeks, starting from Jan. 14 all the way to Mar. 26. Two series will be played each day on weekdays (start time at 3am CT), while weekends will feature three matches per day (start time at 1am CT). Remember that there is also going to be a 12-day break between Jan. 18 and Jan. 30 due to the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Following the end of the round robin, the top ten teams in the standings will be qualified for playoffs, where the 3rd-10th seed teams will battle in a king-of-the-hill format to determine the top four. In turn, the best four teams will play in a double-elimination bracket for the LPL Spring Championship.
If you’re going to follow the LPL action, here is a shareable calendar we’ve created to help you know exactly when matches will take place.
