© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
We have some big news to share with you about the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) in 2027. The APAC LoL Esports ecosystem is taking its next step forward, creating a more open path from domestic competitions to the LCP.
Starting next year, all teams will begin each split at the domestic level, competing in the PCS, VCS, and LJL. The best teams then qualify for the LCP, which will become the bracket stage where the region’s top teams come together to compete for regional glory and qualification to global events.
WHAT WE’VE BUILT SO FAR
When we launched the LCP, we wanted a league where we could showcase our best talents, introduce diverse matchups, and create fresh rivalries across the region. We also wanted to raise the competitive strength of our teams through more regular inter-regional competition, with the long term ambition of closing the gap with the strongest regions in the world.
Over the last two years, we made great strides towards those goals. We had our largest viewership to date, when our record-breaking LCP Mid Season Finals in 2025 reached nearly 500,000 peak viewership.
We also saw encouraging signs of APAC’s growing competitive strength, with CTBC Flying Oyster finishing in the top 8 at Worlds 2025, marking the first time since 2015 that an APAC team advanced to Worlds Quarterfinals. While the credit belongs first and foremost to the players and organization for building such a strong team, their performance also showed what teams from our region are capable of on the global stage.
This year, the balance of power continues to shift, as Vietnamese teams rise to the top of APAC. Team Secret Whales swept all the LCP titles in the 2026 season, and also became the first APAC team to defeat an LPL team in a BO5.
We also fostered greater diversity and widened access to the APAC ecosystem by giving Wild Card regions a path into the LCP through the Promotion Series.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
While we’re proud of what we achieved in the last couple of years, we also recognize that we fell short in some areas.
One of our goals was to create a more sustainable ecosystem for teams, but it was costly for teams that had to relocate to Taipei, given expenses continue to rise. Being away from their home regions also limits opportunities for them to engage directly with their local fan bases and build stronger connections with the communities that support them.
Beyond finances and fan engagement, many of our players also have to spend extended periods of time away from their homes and support networks, which can be challenging over the course of a long season.
Taking these lessons into consideration, the next step in our evolution will look to address these challenges while retaining what fans love about the LCP. Below is more on what we hope to achieve.
LCP REMAINS ON TOP OF APAC ECOSYSTEM
We won’t be overhauling everything, and some things will stay the same. For starters, the LCP will remain the pinnacle of LoL Esports competition in the APAC region, bringing together the best teams each split for a regional showdown. It will also remain the sole pathway into global events for APAC teams.
We want to retain what we envisioned LCP to be from the start, a platform where the best teams compete against each other, and raise the competitive strength through top tier regional competition.
A WIDER AND MORE OPEN LCP
What will change is that we are expanding the ecosystem and giving more teams the opportunity to compete against the best.
Under the current structure, domestic teams have only one chance each year to compete for a spot in the LCP through the Promotion Series. Even then, only one or two teams from each league get the opportunity to compete for promotion. In the new structure, every team in the PCS, VCS, and LJL gets to compete for a spot at the LCP each split, giving more teams a direct route from domestic competition to the LCP and, ultimately, global events.
Our goal is to create more opportunities through a more open competition, keeping the path into the LCP accessible across APAC. This allows us to maintain the diverse representation that remains important and unique to our ecosystem.
In that same spirit, the Wild Card regions will continue to have a path into the LCP, as we look to strike the right balance between competitiveness and regional representation. More details such as slot distribution and format will come in the coming months. Organizers who wish to run their own Wild Card tournament that directly connect to LCP can look out for application details soon.
TEAM SUSTAINABILITY
One of the most important factors in the success of an esports team is the sustainability of their operations. By allowing teams to move home, we hope to significantly reduce their operating costs, while opening doors for better engagement with their fans and partners.
At the same time, moving back home will reduce time away from friends and family for most of our players, which should hopefully provide a better environment for them to grow and compete in.
Since its introduction, the Global Revenue Pool (GRP) has become one of the most meaningful sources of stable, recurring revenue for our teams. The Regional GRP has grown our direct financial support for LCP teams across time, and is a foundation for team sustainability.
In the 2027 season, we will continue granting Regional GRP to current LCP teams, including those that earn promotion or successfully defend their spot in the upcoming Promotion Series. For teams entering the Promotion Series, their spot in the LCP carries with it a direct share of the GRP.
Additionally, we want to open the door for more teams to benefit from GRP and provide tangible rewards for competitive success. With every domestic team now able to qualify directly for the LCP and potentially progress to global events, teams that successfully qualify for global events will also be eligible to receive Global Event GRP. The ceiling for what a team can earn is hence set by how far they go, not merely by where they started.
Together, these changes are designed to improve team sustainability and provide long-term success in our sport.
STRONGER, HOMEGROWN FANDOM
Fans are the backbone of every sport, and we know that our fans are passionate about their teams, but with many teams competing away from their home regions, opportunities to connect with them in-person have been hard to come by. This made it difficult for teams to build deeper connections with their fan base.
With teams returning to their domestic leagues, we hope to create opportunities for more interaction and engagement, and make it easier for fans to support their favourite team and players in-person.
This hopefully also makes it easier for fans to stay invested in their team throughout the season, with an end-to-end fan journey that starts from the domestic competitions, to the LCP, and finally global events.
SEE YOU IN 2027
Lastly, we’d just like to thank our fans and partners for sticking by us through the years. Our ecosystem is always evolving based on what we’ve learned, and everyone’s feedback plays a huge part in shaping our approach as we constantly look to improve.
Thank you for being on this journey with us, and be sure to follow our social channels and stay updated as we release more information about 2027!
SOCIAL MEDIA
ENGLISH
VIETNAMESE
TRADITIONAL CHINESE
JAPANESE
