League of Legends Championship Pacific aka LCP starts on 17 Jan

Riot Games introduces a new top tier regional League of Legends (LoL) Esports competition in Asia-Pacific. The stage is set for the first season of the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) in 2025. The LCP will serve as the sole pathway for teams in the region to qualify for global events, bringing the best talent to the world stage. Check out the detailed information below:

League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP): Partnered Teams

LCP is more than just a league, it’s a commitment to elevating the LoL esports ecosystem in the region, with a core focus on diversity and competitive development. Participating teams in the upcoming LCP 2025 season and kicking off the new chapter of LoL Esports in Asia-Pacific are:

CTBC Flying Oyster (Partner)
Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming (Partner)
GAM Esports (Partner)
Talon (Partner)
DetonatioN FocusMe (Guest)
MGN Vikings Esports (Guest)
Team Secret Whales (Guest)
The Chiefs Esports Club (Guest)

SEASON FORMAT

This Split will be divided into Regular Season and Playoffs. In the Regular Season, there are 2 phases.

Phase 1 is the Group Stage – Team performance from Mid Season is used to determine seeding in Season Finals but the match record will be reset. Hence based on their standings from Mid Season, 8 teams will be divided into 2 groups, Contender and Breakout. The top 4 teams will be seeded into Contender, while Breakout will consist of the bottom 4 teams. They will then play through a Single Round-Robin Best-of-3 (BO3) to determine a first round of standings for the next phase of the Regular Season.

Phase 2 is the Group Seeding Bracket – But first, a group reshuffle will be conducted via a group breaker to ensure the highest level of competition. In the group breaker, the 4th placed team from the Contender Group and the 1st placed team from the Breakout group will face off, while the 3rd placed team from Contender will face the 2nd placed team from Breakout in a single BO3 match. Winning teams from this group breaker will join the Contender Group, while losing teams will join the Breakout Group.

Teams within each group will then compete in a Double Elimination format. Following this, all teams from the Contender Group will advance to the Season Finals Playoff, while only teams with two wins from the Breakout Group will move forward. Next, in the Playoffs, the remaining 6 teams will go through a series of BO3 and Best-of-5 (BO5) matches in a Double Elimination format to vie for Worlds qualification. The top team will also be crowned the inaugural LCP champion!

Promotion and Relegation Tournament

For a recap of our introduction to the LCP promotion and relegation (P&R) tournament mechanics, refer to this article. Now, we’ll shed a little more light on P&R that will happen after the end of the Season Finals Playoffs. Based on the Season Finals standings, there are two types of Guest spots that will be up for contest during P&R:

Free-for-All (FFA) – The lowest placed Guest team in LCP, regardless of their home region, will be selected to contest for the FFA Guest spot. They will compete against a team from participating Wild Card regions and other qualified teams from existing domestic leagues.

Regional Merit – After FFA, the second LCP Guest team selected to participate in P&R for the Regional Merit spot will be based on the following priority: If the remaining Guest teams consist of more than one Guest team from the same home region, the lower placed Guest team from that home region will compete in the P&R. If the remaining Guest teams are from different home regions, the second-lowest placed Guest team in LCP, regardless of home region, will enter the P&R. Team(s) from the domestic league competing for the Regional Merit slot will not be contesting for the FFA slot.

The winning teams in the LCP P&R will secure a spot as a Guest team in the LCP for 2026. The losing teams will either return to their home region’s domestic league or await the opportunity to qualify for the next Wild Card tournament.

SEASON KICKOFF SCHEDULE

As the first split of the year, LCP Season Kickoff will determine which teams qualify for First Stand, the new and first global event of the year. Season Kickoff will begin on 17 January and will run until 23 February, and matches will begin at 17:00 GMT+7 // 18:00 GMT+8 // 19:00 GMT+9 // 21:00 GMT+11 each matchday.

Here is week 1’s match lineup:

17 Jan – CTBC Flying Oyster vs MGN Vikings Esports – 18:00 GMT+8 and Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming vs GAM Esports – 20:30 GMT+8

18 Jan – DetonatioN FocusMe vs Team Secret Whales – 18:00 GMT+8 and The Chiefs Esports Club vs Talon – 20:30 GMT+8

19 Jan – MGN Vikings Esports vs GAM Esports – 18:00 GMT+8 and Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming vs CTBC Flying Oyster – 20:30 GMT+8