2026 LCK season
Sports season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 LCK season is the ongoing 15th season of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), a South Korean professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. It consists of ten teams participating in three splits, with each split qualifying teams to three international tournaments. The season began on 14 January and will end on 13 September.
- 14 January – 1 March
(LCK Cup) - 1 April – 14 June
(Rounds 1–2 & Road to MSI) - 29 July – 13 September
(Rounds 3–4, play-ins, playoffs)
| 2026 LCK season | |
|---|---|
| League | LCK |
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Duration |
|
| Teams | 10 |
| LCK Cup | |
| Champions | Gen.G |
| Runners-up | BNK FearX |
| Season MVP | Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu (Gen.G) |
| Road to MSI | |
| Qualified for MSI 2026 | Hanwha Life Esports (1st seed) T1 (2nd seed) |
| Playoffs | |
League changes
Season duration
Unlike the previous year, the third split (Rounds 3–5), which originally follows a triple round-robin format, will be shortened to only a double round-robin format, namely Rounds 3–4. This is to give way for the South Korea national esports team for League of Legends preparations for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan.[1]
Teams
Two team changes occurred heading into the 2026 season. On 22 December 2025, DN Freecs was renamed to DN SOOPers following the rebranding of live-streaming service AfreecaTV to SOOP.[2] Days later on 2 January 2026, OKSavingsBank Brion was renamed to Hanjin Brion after a new sponsorship deal was signed between Brion and the Hanjin Group.[3]
An additional team change occurred before the start of the regular season, as DRX would be renamed to KIWOOM DRX on 19 March 2026 following a new sponsorship deal between DRX and Kiwoom Securities.[4]
Road shows
Some games will be held outside of the CHZZK LoL Park in Seoul. On 27 November 2025, the LCK announced that most of Road to MSI will be held at the Wonju Gymnasium in Wonju from 12 to 14 June, while the LCK Finals Weekend will take place at the KSPO Dome from 12 to 13 September.[5] On 27 January 2026, the Kai Tak Sports Park in Kowloon, Hong Kong, was chosen to host the LCK Cup Finals Weekend from 28 February to 1 March, marking the first LCK event to be held outside of South Korea.[6]
Teams will also host events with official games being played. On 28 January 2026, T1 announced two editions of the "T1 Home Ground" event for 2026, with the first being held from 24 to 26 April at the Inspire Arena in Incheon, and the second from 14 to 16 August at the KSPO Dome in Seoul.[7] On 6 February 2026, DRX announced their own roadshow titled "DRX Homefront", to be held at the Vietnam Exposition Center in Hanoi from 8 to 10 May, marking the first LCK event to be held in Vietnam.[8]
LCK Cup
Format and draft
The LCK Cup featured ten (10) teams divided into two groups of five – Group Baron and Group Elder. A draft to determine the teams in each group was conducted on 7 January 2026, where the finalists from the 2025 LCK season, Gen.G (GEN) and Hanwha Life Esports (HLE), were assigned to Baron and Elder, respectively. As GEN were the defending champions, they had the choice to either have the first or second selection; eventually deciding to pick first. GEN and HLE took turns to make their first selections, with those selections picking the next teams in their respective groups in a snake format until all teams were selected into specific groups.[9] The following were the results of the draft per group:
|
Group Baron
|
Group Elder
|
|
Each team played cross matches against the other group in a single round-robin format, where all matches were played in best-of-threes except for the third week of the tournament, which was known as a "Super Week" where matches were best-of-fives. Accumulated results of teams in their respective groups were used to determine a Winners group and a Losers group. Unlike the inaugural tournament, the top two teams from the winners group and the highest-ranked team in the losers group directly advanced to the playoffs. The third to fifth-ranked teams from the winners group and the second to fourth-ranked teams from the losers group qualified for the play-in stage, while the bottom-ranked team from the latter group were eliminated.[1]
The play-in stage consisted of six teams in a semi double-elimination bracket consisting of best-of-three and best-of-five matches, with three teams advancing to the playoffs. The highest-ranked team amongst those qualified for the play-in stage received a bye to the second round and had the chance to choose their opponent. Consisting of six teams, the playoffs applied a double-elimination bracket where all matches were best-of-five series, with the top two teams from the winners group receiving a bye to the second round and the highest-ranked team from the losers group also getting a bye for the first round. In addition, the highest-ranked teams from each of the winners and losers group got the chance to select their opponents in their respective rounds. The finalists of the LCK Cup represented the region as its two representatives at the 2026 First Stand Tournament.
Group Stage
Venue: CHZZK LoL Park, Seoul, South Korea
Total Points: 16
Updated to match(es) played on 23 January 2026. Source: LoL Esports |
Total Points: 14
Updated to match(es) played on 23 January 2026. Source: LoL Esports
|
Play-ins
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | |||||||||||
| 7 February | |||||||||||||
| 6 February | E2 | Dplus KIA | 2 | ||||||||||
| E4 | DRX | 2 | E4 | DRX | 0 | 8 February | |||||||
| B5 | Hanjin Brion | 1 | E4 | DRX | 3 | ||||||||
| 7 February | B3 | Nongshim RedForce | 0 | ||||||||||
| 6 February | B3 | Nongshim RedForce | 1 | ||||||||||
| E3 | KT Rolster | 0 | B4 | DN SOOPers | 2 | ||||||||
| B4 | DN SOOPers | 2 | |||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports
Playoffs
Venues:
- CHZZK LoL Park, Seoul, South Korea
- Kai Tak Arena, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Final | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 February – Seoul | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 February – Seoul | B1 | Gen.G | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Dplus KIA | 3 | E2 | Dplus KIA | 1 | 21 February – Seoul | |||||||||||||||||
| E4 | DRX | 2 | B1 | Gen.G | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 15 February – Seoul | E1 | BNK FearX | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 February – Seoul | B2 | T1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E1 | BNK FearX | 3 | E1 | BNK FearX | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 March – Kowloon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| B4 | DN SOOPers | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| B1 | Gen.G | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| E1 | BNK FearX | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 3 | Lower final | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 28 February – Kowloon | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 February – Seoul | E1 | BNK FearX | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 February – Seoul | B2 | T1 | 2 | E2 | Dplus KIA | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 19 February – Seoul | E2 | Dplus KIA | 3 | E2 | Dplus KIA | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| B4 | DN SOOPers | 3 | B4 | DN SOOPers | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| E4 | DRX | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports
Regular season
Rounds 1–2 and Road to MSI
Format
Both the first two rounds and the Road to MSI tournament followed the same format as the previous season. Ten competing teams participated in a double round-robin tournament, where all matches were played in best-of-threes and the top six teams from those rounds qualifying for the Road to MSI best-of-five tournament qualifier for the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational, which was hosted in South Korea.
Road to MSI consisted of the top two teams contesting the region's first seed. The remaining four teams competed in a four-round single-elimination king-of-the hill tournament, with the fifth and sixth-ranked teams beginning in round one; the fourth-ranked team seeded in round two, and the third-ranked team seeded in round three. In round four, the loser of the first-seed playoff faced the winner of round three for a spot at MSI 2026 as the region's second seed.
Rounds 1–2
Venues:
- CHZZK LoL Park, Seoul, South Korea
- Inspire Arena, Incheon, South Korea
- Vietnam Exposition Center, Hanoi, Vietnam
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hanwha Life Esports | 18 | 15 | 3 | .833 | MSI Seed 1 Qualification Match |
| 2 | T1 | 18 | 14 | 4 | .778 | |
| 3 | Gen.G | 18 | 14 | 4 | .778 | Road to MSI King-of-the-Hill Tournament |
| 4 | KT Rolster | 18 | 13 | 5 | .722 | |
| 5 | Dplus Kia | 18 | 11 | 7 | .611 | |
| 6 | Hanjin Brion | 18 | 6 | 12 | .333 | |
| 7 | BNK FearX | 18 | 6 | 12 | .333 | Eliminated; advance to Rounds 3-4 |
| 8 | KIWOOM DRX | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | |
| 9 | Nongshim RedForce | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | |
| 10 | DN SOOPers | 18 | 1 | 17 | .056 |
Road to MSI
Venues:
- CHZZK LoL Park, Seoul
- Wonju Gymnasium, Wonju
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | |||||||||||||||
| 12 June – Wonju | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Hanwha Life Esports | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | T1 | 1 | 14 June – Wonju | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | T1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 June – Wonju | 3 | Gen.G | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| 7 June – Seoul | 3 | Gen.G | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| 6 June – Seoul | 4 | KT Rolster | 3 | 4 | KT Rolster | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Dplus KIA | 3 | 5 | Dplus KIA | 2 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Hanjin Brion | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
Rounds 3–4
Format
Based on the standings from the first two rounds of the season, the ten teams will be ranked and divided into two groups – Legend Group (consisting of the top five teams) and Rise Group (consisting of the bottom five teams), with their first two rounds' records carried over. Unlike in the previous season, each team in their respective groups will play best-of-three matches in a double-round robin format. The top two teams from the legend group will advance to the second round of playoffs, while the next two ranked teams (third and fourth) will qualify for the first round of playoffs. The fifth-ranked team from the legend group and the top three teams from the rise group will be placed in the play-ins, and the bottom two teams of said group will be eliminated.
Play-ins
Four teams will contest a GSL-style bracket, where the fifth-ranked team in the legend group will face the highest-ranked team from the rise group for the fifth seed in the playoffs. The other two teams will go up against each other in an elimination series, with the winner facing the loser of the fifth-seed match to contest the sixth playoff spot.
Playoffs
The six remaining teams will contest the playoffs in a double-elimination format, where all matches will be played in best-of-fives. The top four teams from the playoffs will secure qualification for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, with the winner of the LCK Finals being crowned the Season Champion. By virtue of Hanwha Life Esports winning the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational, a fourth slot was unlocked for the league. HLE will qualify for the World Championship as MSI winners provided that they advance to the playoffs.
Venues:
- CHZZK LoL Park, Seoul
- KSPO Dome, Seoul (Lower Bracket Final & Final)
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Final | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1/2 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29/30 August | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5/6 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1/2 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29/30 August | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 3 | Lower final | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5/6 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 September | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports