League of Legends is the most popular eSports game. It consistently tops annual watch-time metrics, pulling in hundreds of millions of hours viewed globally.
Current peak concurrent viewers are sitting at over 6.9 million during high-stakes matches (eSports Charts). eSports odds are always tracking League of Legends Championship Series, and global players/teams have literally become gaming superstars.
If you’ve never followed a League of Legends Championship Series before, we highly recommend you do.
League of Legends undoubtedly globalized esports. Read on to find out how.
How League of Legends Changed eSports
League of Legends might as well have invented eSports. It was, without a doubt, instrumental in turning eSports into the structured and publisher-run global league model it is now.
Riot, the developer and publisher of League of Legends, managed to create professional competitions and regular seasons with scheduled broadcasts that quite literally put the game on the big screen.
The biggest turning point came in 2013 with the launch of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Riot announced regular seasons involving salaried teams and free HD broadcasts, giving professional players greater stability than the tournament-by-tournament model common at the time.
That also led to eSports players being recognised as legitimate international professionals as league players began qualifying for US P-1A visas used for internationally recognised athletes, which is pretty crazy.
From there, the audience explosion was massive. The first 2012 World Championship attracted 8.2 million viewers. A year later in 2013, more than 32 million viewers tuned in. Fast forward to last year’s 2025 LoL Championship, and viewership numbers reached almost 136.5 million people.
And there’s so much more we could say, but League of Legends is definitely a global eSports phenomenon.
League of Legends eSports Competitions 2026
Riot’s 2026 calendar has three regional competitive phases and three major international events:
- Regional Split 1 = First Stand
- Regional Split 2 = Mid-Season Invitational (MSI)
- Regional Split 3 = World Championship (Worlds).
The main Tier 1 leagues are the:
- LCK
- LPL
- LEC
- LCS
- CBLOL
- LCP
Different leagues have their own domestic formats. International qualification connects them into one global competitive system.
Worlds 2026 will run from October 15 to November 14, 2026, with 19 teams due to participate and a massive multi-million-dollar prize pool.
How to Play League of Legends
League of Legends is a free-to-play 5v5 Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game. Download League of Legends for free by following the link.
Its main competitive mode is Summoner’s Rift, and the basic objective is to destroy the opposing team’s Nexus before it destroys yours.
Each team consists of five players, normally assigned to five positions:
- Top
- Jungle
- Mid
- Bot
- Support
The League of Legends map has five lanes, top, mid, and bot, and you’ll also go through jungle areas between them. You usually begin in your assigned lane or jungle area and build strength early in the match.
You control your champion throughout, and each champion has its own abilities, such as a healer, for example.
Whether it’s eSports or not, League of Legends is one of the biggest and most well-recognized games ever created. If you haven’t played it or followed a competition before, we highly recommend that you do.
