The 2024 League of Legends World Championship Final was a League of Legends (LoL) esports series between Bilibili Gaming and T1 on 2 November 2024 at The O2 Arena in London, England, marking the fourteenth final of a LoL World Championship and the final championship series to take place under the two-split competitive calendar as a new split structure and competitive calendar for the game's esports ecosystem was implemented by the game's developer Riot Games since 2025.
It was the third straight final for T1, who entered the series as defending champions, having won the 2023 edition on home soil. T1 were one of four Korean representatives from the League of Legends Champions Korea at the 2024 tournament, the others being 2024 Mid-Season Invitational champions Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, and Dplus Kia. Bilibili Gaming were one of four Chinese representatives from the League of Legends Pro League alongside Top Esports, LNG Esports, and 2023 finalists Weibo Gaming.
The series was a best of five and was played in front of 14,700 spectators, with 6.9 million peak viewers excluding China, the highest in the tournament's and in esports history. That also made it just the second esports tournament to pass the 6 million peak viewer mark. The series ended 3–2 in favor of T1, who mounted a comeback of two consecutive victories after facing a 1–2 series deficit after three games.
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok earned his fifth World Championship and his second Most Valuable Player honors. The series also marked the fifth World Championship for T1, having won previously in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2023. It also marked the first successful championship defense of a defending world champion since 2016 when then-SK Telecom T1 clinched back-to-back titles, and the second time the LCK's fourth seed clinched the world championship since DRX in 2022.
Route to the final T1
Prior to the 2023 League of Legends World Championship, T1 was in the midst of an international title drought since the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational, with their last world championship having been their 3–2 victory over Samsung Galaxy in the 2016 edition, when they were then known as SK Telecom T1. However, the organization would return to a world championship final in 2022—their first being known as T1, where they went up against fellow League of Legends Champions Korea representatives DRX. After having a 2–1 series lead, T1 would lose the next two games, ending in a 2–3 defeat to DRX, whom many consider to have completed a "cinderella run," having qualified for the tournament's main stage through the play-in phase. Following the defeat, T1 kept the same roster for the 2023 LCK season, finishing as runners-up in both Spring and Summer Splits and making the semifinals of the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational in London. The organization had the most championship points, securing qualification for the 2023 edition of Worlds despite not having a domestic title.
During the 2023 World Championship, T1 finished their Swiss stage campaign with a 3–1 record, losing only to the LCK's first seed, Gen.G in the 1–0 bracket. Having qualified for the knockout stage, T1 went through teams from the LPL, winning against LNG Esports in a 3–0 sweep in the quarterfinals, defeating 2023 Mid-Season Invitational champions JD Gaming in the semifinals, 3–1, in a rematch from the 2022 edition, and scoring a 3–0 sweep against Weibo Gaming in the finals to win their record-extending fourth world championship in their sixth finals appearance. Top-laner Choi "Zeus" Woo-je would earn Finals MVP honors, being the second straight top-laner to win the award after Hwang "Kingen" Seong-hoon achieved the feat in 2022. Additionally, T1 was also famously the only team from the LCK to qualify for the semifinals, as fellow quarterfinalists Gen.G and KT Rolster failed to advance, losing to Bilibili Gaming and JD Gaming, respectively.
Heading into the 2024 LCK season, T1 retained the same group of players for its world championship defense. Despite losing their opening series to Gen.G, T1 ended up being one of the top teams during the Spring Split, finishing with a 15–3 win-loss slate. In the playoffs, T1 began in the upper bracket, but suffered a 0–3 sweep against Hanwha Life Esports, relegating them to the lower bracket. In the said phase, T1 went 6–1 in games (winning 3–0 against Dplus Kia and 3–1 against Hanwha Life Esports) to advance to the Spring Finals against Gen.G, securing qualification for the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational in the process. In the finals, T1 secured match point after three games with a 2–1 advantage, but would drop the next two games, losing 2–3 to Gen.G, who clinched their fourth consecutive LCK championship dating back to their Spring and Summer titles during the 2023 LCK season and the Summer title during the 2022 campaign. The finals defeat meant that T1 were the LCK's #2 seed at MSI and would have to start the tournament in the play-in stage. In the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational in Chengdu, T1 would qualify for the bracket stage from the play-in stage with 2–0 wins against Estral Esports and FlyQuest. Having qualified for the main stage of the competition, the team secured a nail-biting 3–2 victory over G2 Esports but suffered a 1–3 loss to Bilibili Gaming (BLG) to relegate them to the lower bracket. T1 would secure a 3–1 win over Team Liquid and a 3–0 sweep against G2. BLG were also relegated to lower bracket after their 1–3 loss to Gen.G, which meant that both T1 and BLG would face each other in the lower bracket final with a spot in the MSI Finals on the line. Despite equalizing the series at two games apiece to force a deciding fifth game, T1 eventually lost to BLG and finished third in the standings.
After MSI 2024, the Summer Split commenced. Here, T1 would have a 5–5 win-loss slate after the first five weeks but would go on to have a 6–2 record in their last eight games to finish the split, 11–7, placing fourth upon the completing of the regular season. The squad would win their first playoff best-of-five series against KT Rolster, but suffered another 0–3 loss to Hanwha Life Esports, relegating them to the lower bracket in a similar situation as the previous split. After winning their first lower bracket series against Dplus Kia, T1 faced Hanwha Life once more in the lower bracket final, which ended in a 1–3 defeat for T1. Hanwha Life Esports would secure their qualification for the 2024 edition of Worlds and eventually win the LCK Summer Split title, defeating Gen.G, 3–2, to deny the latter's fifth consecutive title. After the domestic season, T1 still had a chance to make it to the 2024 World Championship through the LCK Regional Finals, which determined the third and fourth seeds from the LCK to qualify for Worlds. The team was drawn into the upper-bracket semifinal against Dplus Kia, and secured match point after three games. However, Dplus Kia would win the next two games, securing the third LCK seed for Worlds. T1 now had to face KT Rolster, who had defeated FearX in the lower bracket semifinals. The final matchup would see T1 become the final team to qualify for the World Championship after a 3–2 series win that saw every blue side team win.
T1 lost its first best-of-one Swiss stage assignment of the tournament to Top Esports but got their first win of the tournament against paiN Gaming to improve their record at 1–1. The team would then be drawn to face BLG in the next round, and secured a best-of-one victory, putting them one win away from the quarterfinals. T1 would meet G2 in the 2–1 bracket and won the series, 2–0, to qualify for the quarterfinals. In the knockout stage, they would avenge their first round defeat to Top Esports with a 3–0 sweep, before beating Gen.G for the first time all year in the semifinals to end their losing streak against them and to book their third consecutive trip to the League of Legends World Championship Final. +T1's route to the finalRoundOpponentResultSwiss round 1Top Esports0–1Swiss round 2PaiN Gaming1–0Swiss round 3Bilibili Gaming1–0Swiss round 4G2 Esports2–0QuarterfinalsTop Esports3–0SemifinalsGen.G3–1
BLG
Bilibili Gaming was founded in 2017 and entered the League of Legends Pro League in the same year, with their acquisition of LPL team I May. The organization's first LPL split saw the team winning its first two matches, before delivering mixed results to finish the Spring split with an 11–8 in the West Region, when the LPL was split into two regions at the time. BLG's first playoff appearance saw them winning their first best-of-five series against JD Gaming, but would lose in five games to Rogue Warriors (now known as Anyone's Legend). Since then, the team has constantly stayed in the middle of the standings and would struggle to go deeper into the playoffs.
Following the 2022 LPL season, the team saw major roster changes, with jungler Peng "Xun" Lixun transferring from Invictus Gaming, ADC Zhao "Elk" Jiahao joining as its new midlaner from Ultra Prime Esports, and support Luo "ON" Wenjun switching teams after his brief stint with Weibo Gaming. Prior to these changes, toplaner Chen "Bin" Zebin had already joined the team for its 2022 Summer Split campaign, transferring from Royal Never Give Up. The newly revamped roster would have immediate success in the 2023 Spring Split, as despite finishing the regular season with a 10–6 win-loss slate, the team would go on a deep run in the playoffs, including a victory against 2021 World Champions Edward Gaming (3–0) in the semifinals to make their first-ever domestic final and qualification for the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational. However, they would suffer a 1–3 loss to JD Gaming in the Spring Finals. During MSI 2023, BLG secured a semifinal win against eventual world champions T1, but would lose in the Final to JD Gaming with a similar scoreline as their last domestic finals, 1–3.
In the Summer Split, BLG had a dominant 15–1 record to place atop the standings, with their only loss coming against JD Gaming during the third week of competition. With their record, the team started their playoff run in the fourth round, securing a 3–1 series win against Top Esports to advance to the upper bracket final. However, they would lose to eventual champions JD Gaming in a 0–3 sweep and suffered a 1–3 defeat to LNG Esports in the lower bracket final. Despite the two losses, BLG secured qualification to its first World Championship. During the 2023 edition of Worlds, BLG won their first matchup against KT Rolster, but lost to JD Gaming in the second round to put them at a 1–1 slate after two games. The team would secure another victory against Fnatic, improving to 2–1 with one series win away from the quarterfinals, but they would lose to eventual champions T1 in the next round. However, BLG would go on to make the quarterfinals after their 2–1 victory over G2 in their final Swiss stage series. In the knockout stage, the team was drawn against LCK champions Gen.G and secured a five-game victory, 3–2. However, BLG would suffer a five-game defeat in the semi-finals to Weibo Gaming.