Cover-Credits:
Liuyicun (Bruce Liu)
Riot Games announced that the 2021 League of Legends World Championship will take place across five different cities in China later this fall. The event will take place in Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Shenzhen. The grand finals are scheduled on November 6 at the Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China. The venue located in the fifth-largest city in China boasts of a seating capacity of 60,000. This is the third time that the League World Championship will be held in China. Here is a quick overview of what to expect from this year’s League of Legends World Championship.
League of Legends World Championship Overview
Riot Games is yet to reveal any information about the upcoming League of Legends Worlds event except the venue. The studio has promised that more details about the format and qualifications will be available at a later date.
John Needham, Global Head of Esports for Riot Games announced, “We’re extremely excited to push the boundaries of entertainment and sport this year with Worlds 2021 and define the next 10 years of LoL Esports. Shenzhen is China’s most competitive and innovative city with thousands of high-tech startups and entrepreneurial pursuits, so we felt that it was the perfect landscape to host our Finals.”
In 2022, League of Legends Worlds will return to North America according to a statement made by Riot Games last year. In 2020, the event was played entirely in China and the organizers had to restrict the number of fans that were allowed to enter the grand finals due to COVID-19 guidelines in China.
The group stages, quarterfinals and semi-finals were played in bubble-like environments without fans. With global COVID-19 guidelines being relaxed, it is unknown how it will affect the upcoming event. It led to a small dip in viewership compared to 2020’s Worlds, which broke all esports viewership records at the time.
