No longer just three teams but four from the LEC are heading to Worlds 2022 this year, with Riot Games giving Europe an extra slot. Why this is important.
The Worlds 2022 in League of Legends will already start in September with another European team. Last year, the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) only had three slots in the LoL event of the year. However, Riot Games announced on Thursday that four European teams will be allowed to compete this year.
Usually, only the top 3 teams of the LEC could immediately qualify for the Group Stage of the Worlds. The exception was the 2020 Worlds tournament, for which G2 Esports, Fnatic and Rogue qualified directly and the MAD Lions competed in the Play-In Stage.
With the one extra slot this year, the top two LEC teams from the Summer Split will advance directly to the Group Stage, while the other two will have to compete in the Play-In Stage first. Europe got the extra slot because the League of Legends Continental League (LCL) will not participate in the World Championship.
Riot Games decided to invite another European team to the 2022 Worlds as the LEC had performed the best at the international events in the past two years and does not yet have four starting slots. The top two regions LCK (South Korea) and LPL (China) have already secured four representatives.
League of Legends Worlds2022 Dates and Seeding:https://t.co/nWl4LFvH5c pic.twitter.com/kId900Pa1Z
– LoL Esports (@lolesports) July 21, 2022
For LoL Europe, the fourth slot is thus another important chance to compete at the highest international level. In the past two years, a European team always made it to the knockout stage. However, who will be allowed to travel to the Worlds 2022 will still be decided in the current Summer Split of the LEC.
At the moment, Rogue and MAD Lions are in the first two places of the Summer Split. The third place of the LEC is currently shared by four teams. MSI representative G2 Esports is currently only in seventh place. Things are going rather bumpy in the Summer Split for the 2019 runners-up.
So far, the team has only four wins to go with five losses in the group stage. However, only half of the tournament has been played before the playoffs begin. Only the top six teams qualify for the knockout phase.
