© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
For the first time, Tier 2 teams will come together on a global stage featuring representatives from all major LoL Esports regions.
As a collaboration between TJ Sports and Riot Games, the 2026 World Star Challengers Invitational (WSCI) will bring 16 Tier 2 teams from Asia, Europe, and the Americas together this September, giving some of the world's most promising players an opportunity to level-up the competition against opponents from outside their home regions.
WSCI is designed to open up a higher level of international competition for Tier 2 players and teams. The tournament is structured to help accelerate player development, strengthen connections between regional ecosystems, and establish a global showcase that gives fans a first look at the players who could become the next generation of LoL Esports stars.
WSCI 2026 will run from September 20-October 2. Each of the five participating regions - China, Korea, APAC, Americas, and EMEA - will utilize a mix of qualification pathways to identify 3 participating teams per region. These 15 participants will join with the Asia Masters Champion to complete the field. Teams will be placed into three seeding pools. The group draw will place one team from Pool 1, one team from Pool 2, and two teams from Pool 3 into each group. Teams from Pools 1 and 2 representing the same region cannot be drawn into the same group, and no group may contain more than two teams from any one region.
WSCI will begin with a four-group stage September 20–25. Each group will contain four teams, and every team will play every other team twice in a double round-robin format. All group-stage matches will be best-of-one for a total of 48 matches across six match days, with eight matches played each day. The top two teams from each group will advance, flowing into an eight-team championship bracket.
From September 27-October 2, the qualified teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket featuring quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final. Every bracket-stage series will be best-of-five. The bracket will consist of seven series in total and will conclude with the WSCI 2026 Final on October 2, where the tournament champion will be crowned.
Fans will be able to follow WSCI through regional Tier 2 social channels, and regional co-streamers will deliver the action to fans around the world.
At present, Tier 2 is a key feature of the LoL Esports competitive pipeline. It gives emerging players a place to develop, gives teams an opportunity to build and invest in future talent, and helps bridge amateur and pro play. As Riot looks to strengthen that pipeline, we are focused on creating more opportunities for developing players and their teams to challenge themselves in more meaningful ways.
International competition can play an important role in that development. Playing against unfamiliar opponents exposes teams to different styles, strategies, and competitive environments, while giving players the experience of performing in a higher stakes environment. Rather than building a new tournament from the ground up, we're partnering with TJ Sports to expand Asia Masters and bring together teams from across Korea, EMEA, China, APAC, and the Americas, as well as the Asia Masters Champion. By building on an established competition, we can focus on what matters most: creating a meaningful competitive experience and sustainable pipeline for the next generation of players.
For 2026, WSCI will serve as a pilot for what international Tier 2 competition could look like. The experience will help us understand how cross-regional competition can best support player development, strengthen connections between regional ecosystems, and create new opportunities for players and teams to grow, compete, and prove themselves.
