EMEA Masters (formerly known as the European Masters) is a League of Legends tournament organized three a year by Riot Games. The tournament is the conclusion of each split of the EMEA Regional Leagues (ERL). The EMEA Masters is the most important tournament in EMEA for teams outside the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) franchise.
History EU LCS and EU CS Up to and including 2018, the two top leagues in Europe were the European League of Legends Championship Series (EU LCS) and European Challenger Series (EU CS). To get into the EU LCS, one had to first get into EU CS through qualification. You could get into the qualifiers through a previous open qualification or by winning one of the national leagues. Once you got into EU CS, you had to take one of the first two or three (depending on the season) spots in the play-offs. After taking the right spot in the EU CS play-offs, the team would qualify for the Promotion Tournament, where it would face one of the weakest teams from the previous EU LCS season for a spot in the elite.
Transition from EU CS to EU Masters After pressure from some organizations, Riot Games has decided to switch the EU LCS to a franchise model, as well as rebranding the league into the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) from early 2019. With the transition to a franchise model from 2019, the possibility of promotion to the LEC ceased to exist, making Challenger Series an unnecessary competition. Nonetheless, there were regional leagues across Europe, which until now offered the chance to climb the European league hierarchy. With most European organizations left without an international competition (only 10 teams joined the newly formed franchise), it was decided to create a new Champions League-style competition. The competition was called the European Masters (EU Masters), and the best teams from all European Regional Leagues (ERL) would play in it.
Expansion from EU to EMEA In late 2022, Riot Games announced the expansion of the European region to include the Middle East and North Africa. The League of Legends European Championship franchise was renamed League of Legends EMEA Championship, and the European Masters was renamed EMEA Masters.
With the expansion of the region, the Arabian League and Turkish Championship League were added to the EMEA Masters ecosystem. The format of the tournament itself has not changed.
EMEA Regional Leagues League Country / Region LES LFL PRM , and NLC , , , , , and TCL AL , , and LIT LPLOL EBL , , , , , , , and HM and HLL and RL , , , , , and ROL , and
List of European/EMEA Masters finals +List of European/EMEA Masters finalsSeasonChampionScoreRunner-upTeamTeam European Masters2018 Spring Origen3–0 Illuminar Gaming2018 Summer MAD Lions3–0 Ninjas in Pyjamas2019 Spring Misfits Premier3–0 SK Gaming Prime2019 Summer Berlin International Gaming3–1 Vodafone Giants2020 Spring LDLC OL3–0 K1CK Neosurf2020 Summer AGO Rogue3–0 GamerLegion2021 Spring Karmine Corp3–1 BT Excel2021 Summer Karmine Corp3–2 Fnatic Rising2022 Spring Karmine Corp3–1 LDLC OL2022 Summer Team Heretics3–2 Team BDS Academy EMEA Masters2023 Spring Istanbul Wildcats3–2 Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition2023 Summer Karmine Corp3–2 Movistar Riders2024 Spring Eintracht Spandau3–1 Beşiktaş Esports2024 Summer Team BDS Academy3–1 Vitality.Bee2025 Winter Los Ratones3–0 Ici Japon Corp. Esport2025 Spring Los Ratones3–0 Barça eSports2025 Summer Karmine Corp Blue3–0 Los Heretics2026 Winter Solary3–0 Galions2026 Spring Galions3–0 Solary
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