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2026 LPL season

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2026 LPL season
LeagueLPL
SportLeague of Legends
Duration
  • 14 January – 8 March (Split 1)
  • 4 April – 14 June (Split 2)
  • 22 July – TBD (Split 3)
Teams14 (Splits 1 and 2)
12 (Split 3)
Split 1
WinnersBilibili Gaming
  Runners-upJD Gaming
Season MVPChen "Bin" Zebin
(Bilibili Gaming)
Split 2
WinnersBilibili Gaming
  Runners-upTop Esports
Season MVPZhuo "Knight" Ding
(Bilibili Gaming)
Split 3
LPL seasons
2027 →

The 2026 LPL season is the ongoing 14th season of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), a Chinese professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. It consists of 14 teams participating in the first two splits, with 12 contesting the third, with each split qualifying teams to three international tournaments. The season began on 14 January.

League changes

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Championship points

[edit]

Similar to previous years, the LPL will utilize the championship points system in determining one of its representatives to the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, but the amount of points garnered increased from the most recent season. For instance, the team that wins the first split of 2026 would receive 80 points, as compared to only 20 from the previous season.

Teams

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Two teams from the previous season left the league prior to the 2026 season. On 17 November 2025, 2019 League of Legends World Championship winners FunPlus Phoenix announced their departure from the LPL,[1] while three-time Mid-Season Invitational champions Royal Never Give Up was confirmed not to participate for the 2026 season due to the organization's financial and legal issues. During the 2025 season, RNG finished as one of the bottom two teams, thus relegating them to the League of Legends Development League (LDL). However, the team and its academy team RNG Academy had to forfeit all its matches, owing to said issues. On 8 January 2026, RNG eventually confirmed its departure from competitive League of Legends.[2]

The problems surrounding RNG stemmed from the organization being unable to meet both financial and legal commitments. Due to this, the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court imposed a CN¥ 160 million penalty in July 2025. RNG was also classified as a "high-risk defaulter" by the court. It was also further noted that the organization had also faced other issues.[3]

With the departure of FPX and RNG, the league reduced to 14 teams.

Split 1

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Format

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Split 1 featured all 14 teams divided into three groups for the group stage - Group Ascend, Group Perseverance, and Group Nirvana. Each team was placed in their respective groups based on their performance during the 2025 season. The group stage followed a double round-robin format, with all matches being played in best-of-threes. The top four (4) Ascend teams directly advanced to the playoffs, while the bottom two (2) from the same group joined all the teams from the Perseverance group and the top two (2) Nirvana teams in Knights Rivals play-in stage. The bottom two (2) teams in the Nirvana group were eliminated.

The Knights Rivals play-in stage applied a hybrid double-elimination bracket with all matches being best-of-fives. In the first round, the bottom two (2) teams from Ascend faced the top two (2) teams from Perseverance with the winner of those two matches advancing to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the bottom two (2) teams from Perseverance and the top two teams from Nirvana went up against each other in elimination matches, with the winning teams advancing to face the losing teams from the first round for the final two spots in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, an eight-team double-elimination bracket was applied, with all matches played in best-of-fives. The two finalists from Split 1 qualified as the league's representatives at the 2026 First Stand Tournament.[4]

Group Stage

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Group Ascend
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 Anyone's Legend 10 8 2 .800 Playoffs
2 Bilibili Gaming 10 6 4 .600
3 Weibo Gaming 10 5 5 .500
4 JD Gaming 10 5 5 .500
5 Top Esports 10 4 6 .400 Knights Rivals
6 Invictus Gaming 10 2 8 .200
Updated to match(es) played on 6 February 2026. Source: LoL Esports
Group Nirvana
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 LNG Esports 6 6 0 1.000 Knights Rivals
2 Oh My God 6 3 3 .500
3 LGD Gaming 6 2 4 .333 Eliminated
4 Ultra Prime 6 1 5 .167
Updated to match(es) played on 3 February 2026. Source: LoL Esports

Knights Rivals

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Qualification Series
Lower Bracket
Elimination SeriesQualification Series
11 February
P2Team WE3
10 FebruaryN1LNG Esports1
P4TT Gaming011 February
N1LNG Esports3A6Invictus Gaming3
10 FebruaryN2Oh My God0
P3EDward Gaming1
N2Oh My God3

Source: LoL Esports

Playoffs

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Venue: Yangcheng International Esports Center, Suzhou

Upper quarterfinalsUpper semifinalsUpper finalFinal
24 February
A4JD Gaming3
26 February
A5Top Esports2
A4JD Gaming3
24 February
A1Anyone's Legend2
A1Anyone's Legend3
4 March
P2Team WE0
A4JD Gaming2
25 February
A2Bilibili Gaming3
A3Weibo Gaming3
27 February
A6Invictus Gaming0
A3Weibo Gaming0
25 February
A2Bilibili Gaming3
A2Bilibili Gaming38 March
P1Ninjas in Pyjamas0A2Bilibili Gaming3
A4JD Gaming1
Lower round 1Lower quarterfinalsLower semifinalLower final
2 March
28 FebruaryA3Weibo Gaming37 March
A5Top Esports3A5Top Esports25 MarchA4JD Gaming3
P2Team WE0A3Weibo Gaming3A3Weibo Gaming0
3 MarchA1Anyone's Legend1
1 MarchA1Anyone's Legend3
A6Invictus Gaming3A6Invictus Gaming1
P1Ninjas in Pyjamas1

Source: LoL Esports

Split 2

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Format

[edit]

Split 2 saw the same 14 teams divided into two groups - Group Ascend and Group Nirvana - based on their standings from the first split. The top eight (8) teams from Split 1 comprised Ascend, while the bottom six (6) were assigned to Nirvana. The top four (4) teams from Ascend automatically qualified for the playoffs, while the bottom four (4) teams joined the top four teams from Nirvana in the Knights Rivals play-in stage. The bottom two (2) teams from the Nirvana group were eliminated from the 2026 LPL season.

The Knights Rivals play-in stage saw eight (8) teams competing for the final four spots in the playoffs in best-of-five matches. Similar to the first split, the playoffs also featured eight teams and best-of-five matches, with the finalists qualifying for the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. The formats for each of the three stages has not been announced.

As Bilibili Gaming won the 2026 First Stand Tournament, both of the LPL's representatives at MSI had a bye to the bracket stage.

Group Stage

[edit]

Knights Rivals

[edit]

Playoffs

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Venues:

Upper quarterfinalsUpper semifinalsUpper finalFinal
29 May – Shenzhen
A2JD Gaming3
31 May – Shenzhen
N2TT Gaming1
A2JD Gaming1
29 May – Shenzhen
A3Top Esports3
A3Top Esports3
7 June – Shenzhen
N3LGD Gaming0
A3Top Esports3
30 May – Shenzhen
A8Team WE0
A4Anyone's Legend3
1 June – Shenzhen
N4EDward Gaming0
A4Anyone's Legend0
30 May – Shenzhen
A8Team WE3
A1Bilibili Gaming114 June – Wuhan
A8Team WE3A3Top Esports0
A1Bilibili Gaming3
Lower round 1Lower quarterfinalsLower semifinalLower final
5 June – Shenzhen
2 June – ShenzhenA4Anyone's Legend313 June – Wuhan
N3LGD Gaming3N3LGD Gaming08 June – ShenzhenA8Team WE2
N2TT Gaming2A4Anyone's Legend0A1Bilibili Gaming3
6 June – ShenzhenA1Bilibili Gaming3
3 June – ShenzhenA2JD Gaming1
N4EDward Gaming0A1Bilibili Gaming3
A1Bilibili Gaming3

Source: LoL Esports

Split 3

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Format

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The remaining 12 teams will again be divided into Group Ascend and Group Nirvana for the group stage, similar to the second split. After the group stage, the Knights Rivals play-in stage will qualify the last remaining teams for the playoffs. The playoffs will be contested in best-of-five matches, with the winner of Split 3 being crowned the Season Champion and securing qualification for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, filling up one of the four slots alloted for the region. The other three spots will be determined by championship points and regional qualification results.

References

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  1. ↑ Xu, Davide (17 November 2025). "FPX leaves the LPL as the league undergoes restructuring". Esports Insider. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  2. ↑ Marchoude, Ilyas (8 September 2026). "Royal Never Give Up leave League of Legends". Sheep Esports. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
  3. ↑ Guimarães, Sofia (7 August 2025). "RNG forfeits every match in the LDL: What's going on in China's secondary LoL league?". Esports.gg. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  4. ↑ Marchoude, Ilyas (3 January 2026). "Everything to know about the LPL Split 1". Sheep Esports. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
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