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]
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 |
| League of Legends Pro League | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 英雄联盟职业联赛 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英雄聯盟職業聯賽 | ||||||
| |||||||
Format
editFor 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.
- All matches are best-of-five
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.
Current participants
edit- List of teams participating in LPL 2025 Split 1.
| Team | ID | Line up | Head coach | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top laner | Jungle | Mid laner | Bot laner | Support | |||
| Anyone's Legend | AL | Flandre | Tarzan | Shanks | Hope | Kael | Tabe Xiaobai |
| Bilibili Gaming | BLG | Bin | Wei | knight | Elk | ON | Maokai LvMao Easyhoon |
| EDward Gaming | EDG | Zdz | Xiaohao | Angel | Assum | Angel | Clearlove Mni Mingzai |
| FunPlus Phoenix | FPX | sheer | sorrow | Care | bat | Jwei | Qingsi Yondaime |
| Invictus Gaming | IG | TheShy | JieJie | Rookie | GALA | Meiko | Daeny Mafa |
| JD Gaming | JDG | Flandre sheer |
Kanavi | Yagao | Ruler | MISSING | WarHouse |
| LGD Gaming | LGD | sasi | Meteor Climber |
xqw | Shaoye | ycx | 1874 Chelizi |
| LNG Esports | LNG | Zika | Weiwei | haichao | Photic | Zhuo | Viod |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | NIP | shanji | Aki | neny | Leave | Ppgod | Rashomon |
| Oh My God | OMG | Hery | Heng | Linfeng | Starry | Moham | noname Geitang |
| Royal Never Give Up | RNG | Xiaoxu | Milkyway | Tangyuan | JiaQi | Lele | Heart Comet |
| Team WE | WE | Cube Beluga |
Tianzhen | Karis | Taeyoon | Vampire | Teacherma JinJin |
| TT Gaming | TT | HOYA | Beichuan | SeTab | 1xn | Feather | AFei |
| Top Esports | TES | 369 | Kanavi | Creme | JackeyLove | Crisp | Homme Ggoong Ben |
| Ultra Prime | UP | 1Jiang | Junhao | Saber | Wako | Rosielove | Benny Ratis |
| Weibo Gaming | WBG | Breathe | Tian | Xiaohu | Light | Hang | NoFe |
Results
edit† Background shading indicates that the team won the World championship.
| Year | Split | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Qualified for the World Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed 1 | Seed 2 | Seed 3 | Seed 4 | ||||||
| 2013 | Spring | Oh My God | Positive Energy | Invictus Gaming | Team WE | Royal Club | OMG | — | — |
| Summer | Positive Energy | Oh My God | Team WE | Royal Club | |||||
| 2014 | Spring | EDward Gaming | Invictus Gaming | Oh My God | Team WE | EDward Gaming | Star Horn Royal Club | OMG | |
| Summer | EDward Gaming | Oh My God | Star Horn Royal Club | LGD Gaming | |||||
| 2015 | Spring | EDward Gaming | LGD Gaming | Invictus Gaming | Snake Esports | LGD Gaming | EDward Gaming | Invictus Gaming | |
| Summer | LGD Gaming | Qiao Gu Reapers | Invictus Gaming | EDward Gaming | |||||
| 2016 | Spring | Royal Never Give Up | EDward Gaming | Team WE | Qiao Gu Reapers | EDward Gaming | Royal Never Give Up | I May | |
| Summer | EDward Gaming | Royal Never Give Up | I May | Team WE | |||||
| 2017 | Spring | Team WE | Royal Never Give Up | EDward Gaming | Oh My God | EDward Gaming | Royal Never Give Up | Team WE | |
| Summer | EDward Gaming | Royal Never Give Up | Invictus Gaming | Team WE | |||||
| 2018 | Spring | Royal Never Give Up | EDward Gaming | Rogue Warriors | Invictus Gaming | Royal Never Give Up | Invictus Gaming † | EDward Gaming | |
| Summer | Royal Never Give Up | Invictus Gaming | JD Gaming | Rogue Warriors | |||||
| 2019 | Spring | Invictus Gaming | JD Gaming | FunPlus Phoenix | Topsports Gaming | FunPlus Phoenix † | Royal Never Give Up | Invictus Gaming | |
| Summer | FunPlus Phoenix | Royal Never Give Up | Top Esports | Bilibili Gaming | |||||
| 2020 | Spring | JD Gaming | Top Esports | FunPlus Phoenix | Invictus Gaming | Top Esports | JD Gaming | Suning | LGD Gaming |
| Summer | Top Esports | JD Gaming | Suning | LGD Gaming | |||||
| 2021 | Spring | Royal Never Give Up | FunPlus Phoenix | Edward Gaming | Top Esports | Edward Gaming † | FunPlus Phoenix | Royal Never Give Up | LNG Esports |
| Summer | Edward Gaming | FunPlus Phoenix | Team WE | LNG Esports | |||||
| 2022 | Spring | Royal Never Give Up | Top Esports | Victory Five | JD Gaming | JD Gaming | Top Esports | Edward Gaming | Royal Never Give Up |
| Summer | JD Gaming | Top Esports | Edward Gaming | LNG Esports | |||||
| 2023 | Spring | JD Gaming | Bilibili Gaming | Edward Gaming | Oh My God | JD Gaming | Bilibili Gaming | LNG Esports | Weibo Gaming |
| Summer | JD Gaming | LNG Esports | Bilibili Gaming | Top Esports | |||||
| 2024 | Spring | Bilibili Gaming | Top Esports | JD Gaming | Ninjas in Pyjamas | Bilibili Gaming | Top Esports | LNG Esports | Weibo Gaming |
| Summer | Bilibili Gaming | Weibo Gaming | Top Esports | LNG Esports | |||||
Top four finishes by team
edit| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Gaming | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| Royal Never Give Up | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| Invictus Gaming | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| JD Gaming | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Bilibili Gaming | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Top Esports | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Oh My God | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| FunPlus Phoenix | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Team WE | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| LGD Gaming | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Positive Energy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| LNG Esports | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
References
edit- ^ "Riot planning English broadcast of the LPL". The Daily Dot. 3 January 2015.
- ^ Śmigiel, Kacper (June 26, 2015). "6 reasons why China's LPL picked up Korea's OGN format".
- ^ Moser, Kelsey (September 8, 2015). "Riot Games in talks to assume control of LoL tournaments in China". Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "Tencent and Riot Games Create Joint Chinese Esports Venture: TJ Sports – ARCHIVE - the Esports Observer". 11 January 2019.
- ^ "The LCS, LPL & LCK 2017 Summer Formats". June 2017.