As we look towards the 2024 competitive season, we’re excited to see our EMEA Regional Leagues (ERLs) kick off again! Before all the action starts, we wanted to recap what ERLs are and explain the changes that we’ll be making for the 2024 Season.
**What are ERLs?**
ERLs are the regional layer of LoL Esports that sit below the LEC in the EMEA region. They play a large role in assisting with the development of regional ecosystems as well as fostering up-and-coming talent that want to compete in the pinnacle of our EMEA LoL Esports, the LEC.
**How many ERLs are there?**
In total, we have 13 ERLs across the EMEA region. Our leagues are split between Accredited ERLs and Non-Accredited ERLs. The accredited status is given to any ERL that meets the requisite guideline; for example, requiring the competing teams to be registered legal entities. A benefit of being an accredited league is that players will be registered in the Global Contract Database (GCD).
ERL accreditation status is reviewed yearly to ensure Tournament Organisers (TOs) meet our criteria and are able to operate at the accredited level, sustainably. This might result in accredited status being granted or revoked, based on the region’s performance.
Here’s how our ERLs are looking in 2024:
Accredited ERLs
- Superliga (SL)
- La Ligue Française (LFL)
- Prime League (PRM)
- Türkiye Championship League (TCL)
Non-Accredited ERLs
- Ultraliga (UL)
- Greek Legends League (GLL)
- Elite Series (ESLOL)
- Hitpoint Masters (HM)
- Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC)
- Liga Portuguesa de League of Legends (LPLOL)
- League of Legends Italian Tournament (LIT)
- Esports Balkan League (EBL)
- Arabian League (AL)
**What do ERLs play for?**
Regional pride is everything for our ERLs, and the core tenet of competition is the desire to prove you’re the very best in your respective region. But that’s far from all we offer – individual TOs offer prize pools for their region’s victors. Furthermore, victory in domestic ERL leagues also offers the opportunity to qualify for EMEA Masters (EM) - the pinnacle of ERL competition and an opportunity for ERL players to compete on one of EMEA's biggest stages.
**When does the action start?**
We will kick off all the ERL action in late January! You can find all the start dates for each ERL below:
**Promotion and Relegation Changes**
To support team sustainability, while also still ensuring there’s a stable path to promotion from the 2nd Division, we’re reducing the number of teams being put at risk of relegation from two to one for all our ERLs.
For Accredited leagues, the lowest-place team from the 1st Division will compete against the best two teams from the 2nd Division in a seeded double-elimination tournament for the final spot. For Non-Accredited leagues, the last-place team from the 1st Division will be joined by the best three teams from the 2nd Division in a similar seeded double-elimination tournament.
**What about EMEA Masters?**
We are finalising details for EM 2024 and will provide you with an update in the New Year.
Make sure to follow us on [social media][1], and check in on [lolesports.com][2] as we'll be back in the new year with more updates!
[1]: https://linktr.ee/LECofficial
[2]: https://lolesports.com/
