All LEC 2025 Format Changes Explained

Rejoice LEC fans as major changes are coming for the League of Legends competitive region. Following a lot of feedback from the community, the LoL Esports team has decided to shake things up to make both the playing experience for professionals better and the viewing experience for fans of the game and region.

Although most of the criticism for the LEC as a region is not unfounded, many analysts and long-time viewers expressed concerns about the overabundance of best-of-ones (Bo1s), in result reducing the impact of the region when it comes to performing internationally. Having that in mind, we will take a look at what we know so far for the upcoming 2025 LEC competitive year.

LEC 2025 Format Changes

Before we go over all of the regional changes, we will need to address the elephant in the room, namely, the brand-new third international tournament around which the other major regions of the League of Legends competitive scene will be accommodating into their schedule. 

Having that in mind, here are the most important takeaways for the 2025 LEC format:

• The region will once again have a three-split format (Winter, Spring, Summer), mirroring the new ranked splits in League of Legends.
• Each split will have its unique identity, format, and title. More importantly, each split will designate the teams that will compete in the corresponding international event, i.e. Winter - First Stand (New Tournament) Spring - MSI, and Summer - Worlds.
• Championship Points and Season Finals have finally been removed, as a lot of fans were complaining about the seemingly unreasonable format and rules.
• Most matches will be played on the current live patch of the game, thus making the viewing experience fresh and up-to-date.
• More best-of-threes (Bo3s) in the Spring and Summer splits.
• LEC roadshow for the Summer split.
• Matches in arenas for the Spring split.

LEC 2025 Winter Split Format

This time around, the LEC Winter split will feature the so-called Fearless Draft format which will be implemented in all major regions as it will prepare teams for the First Stand international tournament.

Here is how Fearless Draft works:

• Once a champion is selected, it becomes unavailable for both teams for the remainder of the series.
• This means that in Bo3s and Bo5s, teams will need to change things up as you will need to have a big champion pool to succeed.

Having that in mind, the structure for the Winter split is as follows:

• Three-week, single round-robin group with Bo1s.
• Top eight teams advance to single-elimination Playoff bracket with Bo3s, and Bo5s with the new Fearless Draft format. The victor will then be slotted for the new First Stand international tournament which will also host the Fearless Draft format.

LEC 2025 Spring Split Format

Fortunately, Bo1s will only be in the Winter split, as the Spring split will kick off with a seven-week regular season where all LEC teams will need to play a minimum of nine Bo3s against all other teams in the league as a single round-robin.

Finally, fans of the LEC will get to see more intense and action-packed matches, instead of the boring Bo1s that have been plaguing the region for quite some time. Afterward, the top six teams will qualify for Playoffs, featuring a double-elimination bracket with Bo5s only. The finalists will earn a spot at MSI.

As mentioned above, the LEC will be partnering with teams to organize and hold matches in arenas different from the Riot Games arena in Berlin, so we can expect a lot of hype as the Spring split goes on.

LEC 2025 Summer Split Format

Things are getting spicy for the Summer split, as all 10 teams will be split into two groups with each roster playing against the rest of the teams in their respective group. Then, the top eight teams will advance from groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing directly to Playoffs.

The third and fourth-placed teams from each group will then cross-play in a Bo3 decider as only two more teams can advance to the Playoffs. The Playoff bracket will consist of six teams, competing in a double-elimination Bo5 bracket to determine which organization will represent the LEC at Worlds 2025.

As mentioned above, the Summer split will feature a roadshow, which is a great change of pace and will most definitely add some additional flavor to the already passionate LEC team. 

And that covers everything we know so far about the upcoming League of Legends EMEA Championship 2025 season, so make sure to tune in on January 18, 2025, for the first day of the Winter split.