- Riot Games will be holding the League of Legends World Championship tournament in China for the third time
- It will take place across five cities: Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Quindao and Wuhan, with live audiences in attendance
- However, no starting date has been announced yet, despite November 6 being announced for the grand finals
Riot Games will be holding the League of Legends World Championship in China for the second year in a row because of the COVID-19 restrictions in North America.
The World Championship Comes Back to China
Despite a World Cup still being unlikely, the League of Legends World Championship will be continuing as usual. The tournament is the big annual event for the game that serves as the culmination of its competitive seasons. This year it will come back to China and will be played across five cities.
The championship was originally planned for North America. However, because of the COVID-19 restrictions and Riot Game’s desire to uphold their promise and bring the genuine live esports experience, it was decided to be hosted in China for the second year in a row.
In total, this will be the third time a World Championship has been hosted in the Asian country, the others being last year’s championship in Shanghai and 2017’s championship that was played in Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Shanghai before ending with a bang in Beijing.
The last year’s World Championship that took place in Shanghai allowed no live crowds at the venue during the play-in stage, group stage, and quarterfinals. It wasn’t until the grand finals that only a small number of fans were allowed to attend the climax of the tournament live.
However, this year, things will be a bit different, and the format will resemble this of 2017’s event.
The 2021 Tournament Goes Live
This year’s edition of the World Championship, however, will not have the same restrictions. It will be played in several different cities, much like the pre-COVID format. Riot Games announced them to be the following:
- Chengdu
- Shanghai
- Shenzhen
- Quindao
- Wuhan
The event will end with grand finals in Shenzhen in an arena that can accommodate a live audience of 60,000 people. The finals will start on November 6. However, despite this date being announced, Riot Games is yet to reveal the starting date of the tournament itself.
For more information, fans can check the official announcement by Riot Games.
