League of Legends Pro League
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.[2] The format is modeled after the League of Legends Champions Korea format in South Korea.[3] In September 2015 it was announced that Riot Games was in negotiations with Tencent to take over operations of the league.[4] 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.[5]
Most recent season or competition: 2020 LPL season | |
Game | League of Legends |
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Founded | 2013 |
Owner(s) | Tencent |
Motto | All We Fight For |
No. of teams | 17 |
Country | China |
Venue(s) | East region: Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou West region: Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Shenzhen |
Most recent champion(s) | Top Esports[1] |
Most titles | Edward Gaming (5 titles) |
Sponsor(s) | Gigabyte, Intel, RACCUA, Logitech |
Domestic cup(s) | Demacia Cup |
International cup(s) | World Championship Mid Season Invitational |
Related competitions | League of Legends Development League |
Official website | lpl |
League of Legends Master Series | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 英雄联盟职业联赛 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 英雄聯盟職業聯賽 | ||||||
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Format
For the 2015 spring season the LPL adopted a best-of-two series. Teams compete a double round robin.
From 2017 to 2018, the league used the same format as the EU LCS for selecting regular season groups.[6] 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 since 2019:
- 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 winner of the spring split will represent 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) will qualify for the World Championship.
Current participants
Results
Year | Split | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Qualified for Worlds | |||
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Seed 1 | Seed 2 | Seed 3 | Seed 4 | ||||||
2013 | Spring | Oh My God | Positive Energy | Invictus Gaming | Team WE | Royal Club | OMG | N/A | N/A |
Summer | Positive Energy | Oh My God | Team WE | Royal Club | |||||
2014 | Spring | EDward Gaming | Invictus Gaming | OMG | 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 |
Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edward Gaming | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Royal Never Give Up | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Invictus Gaming | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Oh My God | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
JD Gaming | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Top Esports | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
LGD Gaming | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Positive Energy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Team WE | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
FunPlus Phoenix | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
See also
- League of Legends Championship Series, the top-level competition in North America
- League of Legends European Championship, the top-level competition in Europe
- League of Legends Champions Korea, the top-level competition in South Korea
References
- "League of Legends: TES win 2020 LPL Summer Playoffs 3-2 over JD Gaming in 155-kill bloodbath". InvenGlobal. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- "Riot planning English broadcast of the LPL".
- 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.
- https://esportsobserver.com/tencent-riot-games-tj-sports/
- "The LCS, LPL & LCK 2017 Summer Formats". June 2017.