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Published: May 7, 2021

Written by: web developer

  • During Riot’s pre-MSI media day the topic of a World Cup was raised
  • According to John Needham, it’s an appealing idea but likely one that won’t be happening soon
  • The reason given was the tight competitive schedule Riot is dealing with

Although Riot seems to like the idea, the company still doesn’t feel ready to organize such a grand-scale event.

The Long-Coveted World Cup Remains Distant

League of Legends has long established itself as one of the best competitive games in the world. The esports scene is ever booming with numerous big and small tournaments being hosted worldwide each year. However there is still one tournament format Riot’s MOBA has yet to cover: a World Cup.

Fans have long been requesting it for certain. And in the light of the recent match between a French and a Spanish League of Legends teams, the question was brought up once again: will a World Cup happen?

The idea is to have a tournament on a global scale where each team represents a nation. And popular sports have done it for years but it’s still a concept esports have yet to grasp.

During Riot Games’ pre-MSI media day Riot’s Head of Global esports John Needham answered the question: According to Needham the idea is indeed appealing. He claims that Riot has great interest in one day hosting a World Cup. However it probably won’t be happening anytime soon. The Head of Global esports elaborated:

“We are always looking for new ways to engage our fans and our pro players, and while League of Legends World Cup will translate really well around the world, making room in our crowded LoL esports schedule is super challenging. So, it’s a great idea, we talk about it a lot, and it’s certainly something that we want to do in some form in the future, but we don’t have any roadmap plans to discuss today.”

It seems that an official World Cup event is yet to happen. Despite that we may start seeing more friendly fan-hosted matches like the one between the French and the Spanish teams. The aforementioned event was hosted by a Spanish streamer by the name Ibai Llanos and had the best players from their respective countries play against one another. The match had enormous success among fans. 

League of Legends has all prospects of one day getting a World Cup. The popularity of the game has skyrocketed recently with the release of the mobile version Wild Rift. As the latter will be getting a World Championship this year, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to see the franchise grow and get a World Cup one of the next years.

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