We are excited to announce the five host cities for the 2021 League of Legends World Championship! The multi-city tour will include Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Shenzhen throughout the tournament’s stages, which will be announced at a later date. The top teams from the regional leagues will compete for a spot at the finals in Shenzhen, scheduled for Nov. 6.
“We’ve locked in the five Chinese cities after an extremely competitive bidding process, and we’re now ready to deliver on our promise to players with a multi-city tour for the biggest esports event on the planet,” said John Needham, Global Head of Esports at Riot Games.
The League of Legends World Championship, known by its millions of fans simply as Worlds, is an annual international tournament that brings together the top teams from 12 regional leagues in top-tier competition for the Summoner’s Cup, bestowed upon the World Champion team. The event rotates through regions each year and hosts different stages of the tournament in notable cities of the host region. In 2022, Worlds will be hosted by the North America region.
This year, Worlds 2021 returns to China to execute a multi-city tour after COVID-19’s impact on 2020, when Worlds was held completely in Shanghai. Each city will host one of the stages, which will be revealed at a later date, for the tournament.
Worlds 2020 established several esports records, as fans watched 160.92 million hours of play and recorded more than 1 billion hours watched. The Worlds 2020 Finals was broadcast in 16 languages and across 21 platforms and hit a record-shattering 23.04 million Average Minute Audience (AMA) and 45.95 million Peak Concurrent Viewers.
It has not yet been finalized if Worlds 2021 will be able to welcome back fans. Last year, the Worlds final at the SAIC Motor Pudong Arena hosted 6,312 live spectators chosen from the 3,205,750 fans who registered to attend, all needing to be a Level 30 player or higher in the game.
The 2021 Worlds Final will take place in the Universiade Sports Centre on Nov. 6 in Shenzhen. The 60,344-capacity venue will join the ranks of other iconic venues that have hosted Worlds in the past, including last year’s SAIC Motor Pudong Arena (2020); AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France (2019); the Incheon Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea (2018); the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China (2017); New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the semifinals and the Los Angeles Staples Center for the finals (2016); the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea (2014); and the Los Angeles Staples Center (2013).
Additional details about Worlds 2021 will be revealed at later dates. Follow us [@lolesports][1] and keep an eye on [lolesports.com][2] for more details.
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