Riot Games picks League of Legends World Championship’s host cities for 2021

By Andrew Zucosky Published June 16, 2021

League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced the five cities that will host this year’s League of Legends World Championship. The tournament will take place in the Chinese cities of Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Shenzen.

The League of Legends World Championship takes place every year and pits the top teams from 12 regional leagues against each other. Every year, the location for this tournament changes regions and different cities host various events at different stages.

A crowd gathered at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The start date of the tournament has yet to be determined, but the grand finals will be held in Shenzen on November 6.

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The 2020 League of Legends World Championship also took place in China, however, Shanghai was the only city that hosted the event. For safety concerns, it was decided to hold the event in one location. During last year’s event, the tournament mainly took place in a closed environment, with only the grand finals being held in front of a live audience. It has not been confirmed whether or not the 2021 League of Legends World Championship will take place in front of a live audience. However, the Universiade Sports Center in Shanghai can hold over 60,000 guests.

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This will be China’s third time hosting the League of Legends World Championship, after having done so in 2017 and 2020. North America was slated to host the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, but Riot Games decided to move the tournament to China due to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

Riot Games confirmed that North America will host the League of Legends World Championship in 2022.

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