League of Legends World Championship 2021: how to watch

The 2021 League of Legends World Championship starts tomorrow, Tuesday October 5th! We have all the details on when and where you can watch this exciting month-long event.

What is the League of Legends World Championship?

Our guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the League of Legends World Championship (affectionately known as “worlds” to League players). But let’s start with the big question: what exactly is this championship?

Basically, this is the main highlight event for the different League of Legends esports in any given year. Several players and teams compete throughout the year to qualify and the qualified teams now compete for the big league.

The championship in question takes place in the Laugardalshöll indoor sports arena in picturesque Reykjavík, Iceland. While no fans can physically attend the event due to COVID-19 related safety precautions, you can easily stream the event throughout the month.

But you may need to set the alarm. As the event takes place in Iceland, people in the US have to wake up early enough to watch certain events.

Who are the main players?

When you get over the fact that it is video games rather than physical sports, the World Cup is very similar to a major football league. And just as soccer tournaments have amazing athletes, the World Cup has several teams you can cheer on.

For example, the United States is well represented this year with three different teams. These teams include the shoddy Cloud9, the trusted Team Liquid, and the currently burning team 100 Thieves.

Europe also has more teams in attendance. These teams include Fnatic, Rogue, and MAD Lions. But American and European teams will have a hard time beating their rivals from China and Korea.

China is leading no fewer than four teams to the World Cup and all are prestigious members of the Chinese League of Legends Pro League (LPL). Meanwhile, Korea is bringing T1 (which has arguably the most famous LoL player ever, Faker) and Damwon Gaming (last year’s reigning champions).

Regardless of who you support, this should be one hell of a competition!

When does the tournament take place?

The structure of the Worlds tournaments is quite simple. We start with 10 teams that are divided into two groups and have to compete to advance. These Play In starter games will air from 7 a.m. ET on October 5 through October 9.

Thereafter, the groups will battle it out in the group stage before moving on to the knockout stage. The group stage consists of two rounds: one from 11 to 13 October and one from 15 to 18 October.

Finally, we come to the knockout stage. This is where a knockout pot determines who is the best of the best. This phase takes place over three weekends: quarter-finals from 22 to 25 October, semi-finals from 30 to 31 October and finals on 6 November.

When and where to watch the World Cup

Now we come to the most important part: how can you tune in and watch?

On Twitch, the easiest way to do this is through the Riot Games channel. On YouTube, the easiest way is to tune into LoL’s esports channel. Or you can take out the middleman and view everything directly through the official League of Legends eSports website.

Not sure what to tune in? Don’t forget to check out the full schedule right here!