The League of Legends World Championship kicks off on September 29, with the world's best League of Legends teams competing for the all-new World Cup. This year's World Finals will be held in North America, with the finals in Mexico City, the group stage and quarterfinals in New York City, the semi-finals in Atlanta and the finals in San Francisco.
Teams from 11 different regions around the world: South Korea; China; Europe; North America; Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia; Vietnam; Brazil; Japan; Latin America; Oceania; and Turkey. Due to the cancellation of the season in the region due to the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, only the Eastern European CIS region will not send teams.
To prepare you for the start of world 2022, here's a brief introduction to each qualified team. As more teams qualify, this list will be updated throughout September.
Korea Division (LCK)
Gen.G
Gen.G is South Korea's champion this summer. It was the organization's first LCK champion. They beat T1 in the LCK Summer Final to receive South Korea's Number One Seed at the World Championships. Team veteran Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk has gone through all the ups and downs with the organization, and everyone is familiar with him. He was a member of the 2017 Samsung Galaxy World Championship team, which was later acquired by what is now Gen.G. For the young Mid-Singles Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon, beating the legendary Singles player Faker was also a huge victory.
T1
T1's performance in the summer is not as good as in the spring. In the spring, T1 remained undefeated, qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational tournament and finishing second in the inaugural League of Legends International Championship of the year. T1 wasn't so invincible after that, losing three games in the LCK Summer And losing to Gen.G in the summer playoff final, but they've made it to the World, which is ultimately more important. Although Faker and T1 haven't won a world championship since 2016, you can't doubt the greatest League of Legends players of all time and the most successful international esports organization.
Legendary Faker and his T1 team
China Division (LPL)
Top Sports
Top Esports returns to the World Championships for the second time. In the last 2020 match, Top reached the semi-finals but lost to compatriot China's Suning. Only Zhongdan Zhuo "Knight" Ding and Xia Luyu "JackeyLove" Wenbo remain on the list. JackeyLove was also on the Invictus Gaming team that won the 2018 World Finals. In this year's new lineup, Top has rookie single Huang "Wayward" Ren-Xing and LPL veteran Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang, who won the world championship with FunPlus Phoenix in 2019. Top also added a new support this year: Ling "Mark" Xu.
Top Esports returning to the world stage
JDG
It feels like 2020 is 2020 again, because JD.com is returning to the World Championship for the first time in two years. JDG has a brand new downside duo Lou "Missing" Yunfeng and Wang "Hope" Jie this year, but their brand name is Bai "369" Jiahao, who joined in the offseason, who has been the top Esports since 2018, and JDG beat Top in the LPL summer playoff semifinals this year and will meet again in the final, based on the season's championship points to decide which team will win China's world No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed. Either way, they are already eligible for the group stage.
European Division (LEC)
G2
G2 is back after missing the League of Legends world championship last year. From 2018 to 2020, they finished in the top four every year, finishing second at the 2019 World Championships. Rasmus "caps" Borregaard Winther and Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski remain at the heart of the team, with a young downside. Duo in Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik and solid orders. They are European champions in the spring and reach the semi-finals of the Mid-Season Invitational. When G2 is at their best, they are one of the best teams in the world.
Rogue
Rogue will enter the World Series for the third consecutive season. Although G2 and Fnatic are generally European heavyweights, Rogue has become a counterweight to both teams. Although Kacper "Inspired" Słoma and underdog Steven "Hans sama" Liv lost to north American teams in the last offseason, Rogue replaced them with Kim "Malrang" Geun-seong (upper order) and Markos "Comp" Stamkopoulos (ordered). Not losing a beat. Still, they're looking for their first LEC title, and moving to the knockout stage at the World Championships will be the next big step for the organization.
Mad Lions
Like Rogue, MAD Lions have become one of the strongest and most stable European teams in recent years. They will compete in the World Championships for the third consecutive year. Norman "Kaiser" Kaiser is a veteran of the team and has played in mad Lions' two previous World Championships, but Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla and İrfan Berk "Armut" Tükek also bring a wealth of experience from last year. Yasin "Nisqy" Dinçer may be new to the team, but he is a veteran of League of Legends, having twice played in the World Series with other teams in his resume. The only youngster in this team is William "UNF0RGIVEN" Nieminen, who made his LEC debut this year.
North America Division (LCS)
100Thieves
The 100T on the World Stage for the second consecutive time
In esports, it's unusual for a team to maintain the same lineup every year, and it's even more rare for a team to maintain a high level of success with the same lineup every year. This is exactly the huge success 100 Thieves has had in the World Qualifiers with Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho, Can "Closer" Çelik, Felix "Abbedagge" Braun, Ian Victor "FBI" Huang and Choi "huhi" for several consecutive years. They did as well last year when they won a few group games as expected by North American teams. Looking forward to this 2021 North American champion to have a new performance on the world stage this year.
C9
Cloud9 is back in the World. They are the standard-bearers of NA and have missed only one world title since 2013. Despite the tough spring season, the C9 broke everyone's predictions when it beat Evil Geniuses to win a world finals spot in the LCS playoffs. Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami returned to the road after a brief attempt in the middle, with Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen switching roles to make AD rookie Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol the team's main feature. Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen returned to stabilize the middle after a brief retirement. They may have been overlooked this LCS season, but they shouldn't be underestimated at the World Championship.
Latin America (LLA)
Isurus
Isurus has previously competed in the World Series in 2019, but there is only one player left on the list, Édgar Ali "Seiya" Bracamontes Munguía. It would be a treat for Sanzai and two other Mexican players on this team to be able to compete on the grandest stage of the League of Legends in their home country. A Latin American team has never made it to the finals stage, so if this team can make a breakthrough, it will be a cool story.