League of Legends players and fans are getting their wish fulfilled: A third international competition will be formally introduced to the calendar in 2025.
The news comes via a Riot Games dev update on June 11, with the League esports calendar set to look drastically different following the 2024 World Championship and heading into next year. Regional play will begin earlier this year, ending in a tournament scheduled for March. This competition is not expected to be as great as Worlds, but it helps to round off the calendar year and provides another opportunity for the League’s best and brightest to shine on the global stage.
This verifies speculations of an enlarged international calendar for 2025 that surfaced in April, implying that the Mid-Season Invitational and even the World Championship will be pushed back slightly to accommodate the new event. Aside from rumors in April that a single team from each major region will be invited, little more is known about the competition.
While it was not a completely new competition, it was evident Riot had planned significant changes to international League events following a big format shift for MSI and Worlds. With today’s announcement of the merger of the American sub-regions into a two-conference league, the continued consolidation of the Southeast Asian and Oceanic regions, and a unified split schedule, space has undoubtedly opened up for the League to host another major tournament, something the scene has been requesting for years.
The Esports World Cup will be held in 2024, marking another worldwide event. However, it is organized by a third party and lacks the amount of regional integration found in Riot’s official events. Instead, all eyes will be on Riot’s handling of the 2025 season and the next event.
The League’s competitive calendar now runs from late January to early November, but with a well-planned and coordinated schedule, this third tournament should be easy to accommodate. More information on this new event will be released in the following months.