League of Legends Worlds Through the Years: Every Champion & Host City

The LoL Worlds is, by a large margin, the most prestigious LoL esports tournament out there. It is a battle of the best LoL teams, to determine who the World Champion is. With the 2026 tournament quickly approaching, the excitement and anticipation from this year's tournament is at an all time high.

Ever since the Worlds tournament was established, it has been exciting: although the Worlds tournaments from the early years are far different from the Worlds tournaments we’ve seen in recent times. In this guide, we’re going to take you on a trip down memory lane, covering all the major Worlds tournaments and how the tournament has evolved over the last fifteen years.

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Every Worlds Champion and Host City

The LoL Worlds tournament lives up to its name: this esports tournament truly has been worldwide for the entirety of its existence, having taken place in Asia, America and Europe all across their major cities. Of course, the nationalities of the champions have also varied, but the one constant seems to be the dominance of Korean and Chinese teams.

LoL Worlds Milestones: Every Champion & Host City Through the Years

Since its debut in 2011, the League of Legends World Championship has grown from a modest gathering in Sweden into a global esports phenomenon. From Europe's early triumph to the dominance of Korea and China, and T1's legendary streak, here is the complete breakdown of every host city, champion, and key milestone.

T1 has won the League of Legends World Championship for the past three years - who will win this year?

Take a look at our table to check out all the Worlds champions and where the tournament was based:

It’s important to note that the cities above are where the finals were hosted. Historically, the Worlds tournament has always taken place in multiple cities, usually within the same host country (South Korea, China, in this year's case, the United States)

As you can see though, there is a trend among only one team that has managed to win the tournament repeatedly: T1, formerly known as SK Telecom T1, who have won the Worlds seven times in total. There is a reason the best esports prediction markets have T1 as one of the top five favorites: they are the defending champions, and they have shown dominance throughout the history of the tournament.

But, what did the tournament look like in the early years?

Fnatic won the first League of Legends World Championship in 2011

Worlds History: From Fnatic to Faker

The Worlds has a storied history, which dates all the way back to 2011 when the first tournament took place in Sweden. As you’d imagine, the Worlds tournament when it started looked very different from how it looks today.

2011-2013: The Beginning of Worlds

• Worlds was first launched in 2011, as an eight team tournament hosting teams from South Asia, North America and Europe. The tournament happened at DreamHack 2011, with a $100,000 prize pool, and featured standard single elimination knockout rules. Fnatic picked up the victory here, with Shushei winning the award for MVP.
• 2012 saw the tournament take place in Los Angeles in late October, with the tournament increasing to twelve participants. There was now a group stage, where the top performing eight teams would advance to the knockout rounds. The prize pool was also greatly increased, to a total of $2 million for champions and qualifying teams. Taipei Assassins from Taiwan picked up the victory and $1 million prize purse.
• In 2013, 14 teams from North America, Korea, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe played in the group stages, after qualifying through their regional tournaments. This tournament was also in LA, with the Grand Final taking place in the Staples Centre, and the prize money remaining the same. Korean team SK Telecom T1 defeated Chinese competitors Royal Club to pick up the Summoners Trophy, and claim the $1 million winners purse

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2014-2017 - South Korea Establishes Dominance

The ending of the 2013 Worlds was a prelude to what the pattern would be over the next several years. As the Worlds tournament grew in scale, the Korean region quickly established themselves as the dominant region for competitive LoL play. In particular, one team proved their dominance with back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016; SK Telecom T1.

• In 2014, the tournament took place in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, with 16 teams now competing for a $2.13 million prize pool. The Grand Finals would take place in the 45,000 seat Seoul World Cup Stadium, where South Korean Team Samsung White defeated Chinese side Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 World Champions. This is the first Worlds to be streamed live by 40 broadcast partners and was watched by over 27 million people.
• 2015 saw a change in rules: with a head coach being mandatory for competitive tournament games, who will be available on stage to speak with the players.The 2015 event was held in several cities and countries across Europe, finishing with the Grand Final taking place in Berlin, in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, where SK Telecom T1 would blaze through the competition to win the tournament and claim the $1 million winners purse.
• 2016 was a very similar format to the previous year: it took place across the United States, in Chicago, San Francisco, New York and the Grand Final taking place in New York. Some more new rules were implemented here: group stage games were decided in regular Best of 1 gameplay, but the knockout stages would be decided in Best of five gameplay. The total prize pool was also increased to $5 million, with TK Telecom T1 once again lifting the crown with a $2,028,000 winner's purse.
• 2017 saw the tournament take place in major cities across China: starting in Wuhan, moving to Guangzhou and Shanghai, and then finishing up in Beijing. The team total was also increased to 24 competitors here: with more regions being included in the tournament, such as Japan, Latin America, Russia, Oceania, and Turkey. This year, Samsung Galaxy avenged their loss from the previous year: defeating SK Telecom T1 to score the upset and win the $2 million winners purse.

In 2017, Samsung Galaxy won the League of Legends World Championship in Beijing

2018 - 2021: China’s Breakthrough

After years of Korean dominance, it looked like they would be the dominant region in the competitive LoL play to come. But, then China moulded some of the strongest teams fans had seen to date: with LPL teams winning consecutive Worlds titles.

• 2018 took place across South Korea: starting in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju and finishing in Incheon. 24 teams qualified for this year as well, with the Grand Finals taking place between Invictus Gaming and Fnatic. Invictus won the game 3-0, granting China their first tournament win and the largest winners purse to date, winning almost $3 million from the total prize pool of $6,450,000.
• 2019 saw a return back to Europe: the play-ins and group stages took place in Berlin, the knockout stages in Madrid and the Grand Final was hosted in Paris. This year saw another win for the LPL, with FunPlus Phoenix defeating German side G2 Esports to grant China back to back Worlds victories, and picking them up $832,375 of the $2.225 million prize pool.
• In 2020, the LPL hosted the Worlds themselves: it took place in Shanghai primarily, due to COVID restrictions. 22 teams qualified: due to COVID, the 2 qualifying spots usually reserved for Vietnam were ineligible. Korea's Damwon Gaming would defeat China’s Sunwing, picking up the Worlds once again for Korea and a $556,250 winner's purse from $2,225,000, with teams compensated that were unable to attend due to COVID.
• 2021 saw the tournament take place in Reykjavik, Iceland for the first time, with 22 teams qualifying to compete for the tournament once again (Vietnam regional teams could still not travel due to COVID). EDward Gaming from China picked up the win over DWG KIA (formerly Damwon) to bring the Worlds back to China. EDward picked up a $495,000 prize purse from the total $2.225 prize pool

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2022-2025: DRX’s Miracle and T1 Threepeat

In recent years, there have been plenty of surprises, and also a return to form by former dominant champions. The team formerly known as SK Telecom T1, now known simply as T1, established their dominance by going three for three in the last three years. But, first, a huge upset took place in 2022:

• 2022 became infamously known for its huge upset victory. Taking place across North America, the play-ins were in Mexico City, New York hosted the group stages and quarterfinals, Atlanta the semifinals and San Francisco the finals. Twenty four teams qualfied, with the finals taking place at the Chase Center. DRX scored a huge upset by defeating T1 in a very close game, becoming Worlds Champions for the first time and being the first team to win the title after starting in the Play-Ins phase. They earned $489,500 of the $2.225 million prize pool.
• 2023 took place in South Korea, across two cities: Busan and Seoul. The field was reduced to 22 teams again, with a new format being introduced in the group stage: something called a Swiss stage, where teams would have to win three games to advance to the knockouts, and lose three games to be eliminated. We cover this in our Worlds Swiss Stage guide in more detail. T1 defeated Weibo Gaming from China to pick up the Worlds Title here, along with $445,000 of the $2.225 million prize pool.
• In 2024, the event returned to Europe: with Berlin, Paris and London being the host cities, with London hosting the Grand Finals for the first time, in the O2 Arena. T1 proved their dominance once again, defeating China’s Bilibili Gaming to win back to back Worlds Championship, and they earned themselves $450,000 of the $2,250,000 prize pool
• 2025 the Worlds was hosted in China, with the play-ins and Swiss stages being held in Beijing, the knockout stages in Shanghai and the Grand Finals taking place in Chengdu. This was also the first Worlds to adopt the Fearless Draft formula: which stated that teams cannot reuse champions over the course of a best of series against another team. T1 went three for three when they defeated KT Rolster, becoming the first team to win six Worlds titles and win three consecutively. They also picked up $1,000,000 based on the increased prize pool of $5,000,000, due to the return of crowd funding.

T1 won the 2025 League of Legends World Championship in China

Worlds 2026: The Next Chapter

The Worlds tournament has a storied history. From a small tournament that took place at a gaming event in Sweden in 2011, it has grown into one of the biggest esports world championships, with prize pools of $5,000,000 becoming the norm for these elite LoL teams to compete over. Worlds returns to the United States this year, with the Play-Ins taking place in LA, the Swiss and knockout stages in the knockouts, and Brooklyn hosting the Grand Finals.

How will this year unfold? Will T1 go four for four? What do the best prediction markets say? We’d recommend checking out both our Polymarket and Kalshi reviews, as prediction markets give you a good idea of what the market says. One thing is for sure though: it’s going to be exciting. Stay tuned here at Strafe as we continue to update on the Worlds 2026 as it unfolds.