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.[1] The format is modeled after the League of Legends Champions Korea format in South Korea.[2] In September 2015 it was announced that Riot Games was in negotiations with Tencent to take over operations of the league.[3] 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.[4]

League of Legends Pro League
Most recent season or competition:
2023 LPL season
GameLeague of Legends
Founded2013
Owner(s)Tencent
Motto"Crazy is our game"
(无畏竞巅峰)
No. of teams17
CountryChina
Venue(s)Shanghai (for most teams)
Hangzhou (for LGD Gaming)
Shenzhen (for Victory Five)
Suzhou (for LNG Esports)
Xi'an (for Team WE)
Most recent
champion(s)		JD Gaming (4th title)
(Summer 2023)
Most titlesEdward Gaming (6 titles)
Sponsor(s)Mercedes Benz, Li-Ning, Momchilovtsi, JingDong, War Horse Energy Drink, Wahaha Soda Drink, Lenovo, Intel, TT Yuyin, TGIF, Oppo, Mobil Oil, TCL, Tongcheng, Sānjīn xīguā shuāng, Durex
Domestic cup(s)Demacia Cup
International cup(s)World Championship
Mid Season Invitational
Related
competitions		League of Legends Development League
Official websitelpl.qq.com (Chinese)
League of Legends Pro League
Simplified Chinese英雄联盟职业联赛
Traditional Chinese英雄聯盟職業聯賽

Format

For the 2015 spring season the LPL adopted a best-of-two series. Teams compete in a double round robin.

From 2017 to 2018, the league used the same format as the EU LCS for selecting regular season groups.[5] 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.

The winner of the spring split represents 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) qualify for the World Championship.

Current participants

Results
† Background shading indicates that the team won the world championship.
Year Split 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Qualified for the World Championship
Seed 1 Seed 2 Seed 3 Seed 4
2013 Spring Oh My God Positive Energy Invictus Gaming Team WE Royal Club OMG — —
Summer Positive Energy Oh My God Team WE Royal Club
2014 Spring EDward Gaming Invictus Gaming Oh My God 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
2021 Spring Royal Never Give Up FunPlus Phoenix Edward Gaming Top Esports Edward Gaming † FunPlus Phoenix Royal Never Give Up LNG Esports
Summer Edward Gaming FunPlus Phoenix Team WE LNG Esports
2022 Spring Royal Never Give Up Top Esports Victory Five JD Gaming JD Gaming Top Esports Edward Gaming Royal Never Give Up
Summer JD Gaming Top Esports Edward Gaming LNG Esports
2023 Spring JD Gaming Bilibili Gaming Edward Gaming Oh My God JD Gaming Bilibili Gaming LNG Esports Weibo Gaming
Summer JD Gaming LNG Esports Bilibili Gaming Top Esports

Top four finishes by team
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Edward Gaming 6 2 4 1 13
Royal Never Give Up 5 4 1 1 11
JD Gaming 4 2 1 1 8
Top Esports 1 3 1 3 8
Invictus Gaming 1 2 4 2 9
FunPlus Phoenix 1 2 2 0 5
Oh My God 1 2 1 2 6
LGD Gaming 1 1 0 2 4
Positive Energy 1 1 0 0 2
Team WE 1 0 3 4 8

References
  1. "Riot planning English broadcast of the LPL". The Daily Dot. 3 January 2015.
  2. Śmigiel, Kacper (June 26, 2015). "6 reasons why China's LPL picked up Korea's OGN format".
  3. Moser, Kelsey (September 8, 2015). "Riot Games in talks to assume control of LoL tournaments in China". Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  4. "Tencent and Riot Games Create Joint Chinese Esports Venture: TJ Sports – ARCHIVE - the Esports Observer". 11 January 2019.
  5. "The LCS, LPL & LCK 2017 Summer Formats". June 2017.
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