The 2026 LPL season was the 14th season of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), a Chinese professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. It consisted of 14 teams participating in the first two splits, with 12 contesting the third, with each split qualifying teams to three international tournaments. The season began on 14 January and ended on 13 September.
League changes Championship points Similar to previous years, the LPL will utilize the championship points system in determining one of its representatives to the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, but the amount of points garnered increased from the most recent season. For instance, the team that wins the first split of 2026 would receive 80 points, as compared to only 20 from the previous season.
Teams Two teams from the previous season left the league prior to the 2026 season. On 17 November 2025, 2019 League of Legends World Championship winners FunPlus Phoenix announced their departure from the LPL, while three-time Mid-Season Invitational champions Royal Never Give Up was confirmed not to participate for the 2026 season due to the organization's financial and legal issues. During the 2025 season, RNG finished as one of the bottom two teams, thus relegating them to the League of Legends Development League (LDL). However, the team and its academy team RNG Academy had to forfeit all its matches, owing to said issues. On 8 January 2026, RNG eventually confirmed its departure from competitive League of Legends.
The problems surrounding RNG stemmed from the organization being unable to meet both financial and legal commitments. Due to this, the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court imposed a CN¥ 160 million penalty in July 2025. RNG was also classified as a "high-risk defaulter" by the court. It was also further noted that the organization had also faced other issues.
With the departure of FPX and RNG, the league reduced to 14 teams.
Split 1 Format Split 1 featured all 14 teams divided into three groups for the group stage - Group Ascend, Group Perseverance, and Group Nirvana. Each team was placed in their respective groups based on their performance during the 2025 season. The group stage followed a double round-robin format, with all matches being played in best-of-threes. The top four (4) Ascend teams directly advanced to the playoffs, while the bottom two (2) from the same group joined all the teams from the Perseverance group and the top two (2) Nirvana teams in Knights Rivals play-in stage. The bottom two (2) teams in the Nirvana group were eliminated.
The Knights Rivals play-in stage applied a hybrid double-elimination bracket with all matches being best-of-fives. In the first round, the bottom two (2) teams from Ascend faced the top two (2) teams from Perseverance with the winner of those two matches advancing to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the bottom two (2) teams from Perseverance and the top two teams from Nirvana went up against each other in elimination matches, with the winning teams advancing to face the losing teams from the first round for the final two spots in the playoffs.
In the playoffs, an eight-team double-elimination bracket was applied, with all matches played in best-of-fives. The two finalists from Split 1 qualified as the league's representatives at the 2026 First Stand Tournament.
Group Stage Group Ascend
Group Perseverance
Tiebreaker
Group Nirvana
Knights Rivals Qualification Series
Lower Bracket
Playoffs Venue: Yangcheng International Esports Center, Suzhou
Awards Most Valuable Player: Tarzan, Anyone's Legend Finals MVP: Knight, Bilibili Gaming Best Rookie: About, Team WE Best Coaching Staff: Anyone's Legend
1st All-Pro Team: Flandre, Anyone's Legend Tarzan, Anyone's Legend Knight, Bilibili Gaming Elk, Weibo Gaming Kael, Anyone's Legend
2nd All-Pro Team: Bin, Bilibili Gaming Xun, Bilibili Gaming Shanks, Anyone's Legend Viper, Bilibili Gaming ON, Bilibili Gaming
3rd All-Pro Team: Xiaoxu, JD Gaming Jiejie, Weibo Gaming Creme, Top Esports Hope, Anyone's Legend Vampire, JD Gaming
Split 2 Format Split 2 saw the same 14 teams divided into two groups - Group Ascend and Group Nirvana - based on their standings from the first split. The top eight (8) teams from Split 1 comprised Ascend, while the bottom six (6) were assigned to Nirvana. The top four (4) teams from Ascend automatically qualified for the playoffs, while the bottom four (4) teams joined the top four teams from Nirvana in the Knights Rivals play-in stage. The bottom two (2) teams from the Nirvana group were eliminated from the 2026 LPL season.
The Knights Rivals play-in stage saw eight (8) teams competing for the final four spots in the playoffs in best-of-five matches. Similar to the first split, the playoffs also featured eight teams and best-of-five matches, with the finalists qualifying for the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. The formats for each of the three stages has not been announced.
As Bilibili Gaming won the 2026 First Stand Tournament, both of the LPL's representatives at MSI had a bye to the bracket stage.
Group Stage
Group Ascend
Group Nirvana
Knights Rivals
Playoffs Venues: Buji Culture & Sports Center, Shenzhen Optics Valley Gymnasium, Wuhan (Lower Bracket Final & Final)
Awards Most Valuable Player: Knight, Bilibili Gaming Finals MVP: Knight, Bilibili Gaming Best Rookie: Heru, TT Gaming Best Coaching Staff: Bilibili Gaming
1st All-Pro Team: Bin, Bilibili Gaming Xun, Bilibili Gaming Knight, Bilibili Gaming Viper, Bilibili Gaming ON, Bilibili Gaming
2nd All-Pro Team: Flandre, Anyone's Legend Tarzan, Anyone's Legend HongQ, JD Gaming JackeyLove, Top Esports Vampire, JD Gaming
3rd All-Pro Team: Xiaoxu, JD Gaming JunJia, JD Gaming Creme, Top Esports GALA, JD Gaming Kael, Anyone's Legend
Split 3 Format The remaining 12 teams was divided into Group Ascend and Group Nirvana for the group stage, similar to the second split. After the group stage, the Knights Rivals play-in stage qualified the last remaining teams for the playoffs. The playoffs was contested in best-of-five matches, with the winner of Split 3 being crowned the Season Champion and securing qualification for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, filling up one of the four slots alloted for the region. The other three spots were determined by championship points and regional qualification results.
Group Stage
Group Ascend
Group Nirvana
Knights Rivals Venue: Beijing Smart Esports Center, Beijing
Playoffs Venues: Inzone Esports Industrial Park, Shanghai Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, Shanghai (Lower Bracket Final & Final)
Awards Most Valuable Player: Knight, Bilibili Gaming Finals MVP: Tarzan, Anyone's Legend Best Rookie: About, Team WE Best Coaching Staff: Bilibili Gaming
1st All-Pro Team: ZUIAN, Top Esports Tarzan, Anyone's Legend Knight, Bilibili Gaming Viper, Bilibili Gaming ON, Bilibili Gaming
2nd All-Pro Team: Xiaoxu, JD Gaming Xun, Bilibili Gaming Shanks, Anyone's Legend JackeyLove, Top Esports Kael, Anyone's Legend
3rd All-Pro Team: TheShy, Invictus Gaming Heng, LGD Gaming Tangyuan, LGD Gaming GALA, JD Gaming Vampire, JD Gaming
World Championship qualification Championship points
Regional Qualifier The regional qualifier was a tournament consisting of the top four teams in the LPL based on championship points that have not directly qualified for the 2026 World Championship. The top two teams faced off, and the winner earned a spot in the World Championship. The bottom two teams then played against each other, with the losing team being eliminated. The remaining two teams then competed for the last LPL spot in the 2026 World Championship. The three best-of-five matches were held over three consecutive days, from 17 to 19 September.
Bracket Venue: League Arena, Shanghai
References