Riot Games has revealed that Worlds 2021 will be held in Iceland from October 5 to November 6, 2021.
Earlier this year, the 2021 LoL Mid Season Invitational and VALORANT Masters were held in Reykjavic, Iceland at the Laugardalshöll Sports Center where Royal Never Give Up took home the title. According to the report from Riot, the event will take place in the “newly refurbished Hall A of the indoor sporting arena” (both MSI and VALORANT were held in Hall B).
The same report also confirmed the dates of the tournament with the following dates:
- October 5th through October 9th – Play-In Stage
- October 11th through October 18th – Group Stage
- October 22nd through October 25th – Quarterfinals
- October 30th and 31st – Semifinals
- November 6th – Finals
The announcement follows an earlier reporting that Worlds will be moving from China to Europe due to COVID concerns. According to an earlier press release by John Needham, Global Head of Esports for Riot Games, “
In addition, Riot also confirmed the format for Worlds 2021. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 concerns, Riot has announced that the two seeds from Vietnam will not be attending Worlds 2021. Therefore, Worlds 2021 will have a similar Play-In stage as last year.
The following is how Riot describes the Play-In stage.
These 10 teams will be drawn into two groups of five, where they will compete for four available Group Stage berths. Each team will play one game against every other team in their group. The top team in each group will automatically advance to the Group Stage. Third- and fourth-place teams will play a best-of-five, with winners challenging the other group’s second seed for the last two spots.
In addition, similarly to last year, all three LEC teams will be advancing to the Group Stage without having to participate in the Play-Ins.
Riot will announce later this month dates for the Group Draw, Play-In Draw, and any other additional information regarding Worlds.
