All About 2025 LEC: Format Changes, Fearless Draft, Kickoff Date
The League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) is one of the most prestigious competitive circuits in League of Legends esports. Riot Games has just announced a massive overhaul of the tournament's format, timeline and seeding. Here's everything we know about the 2025 LEC and what fans can expect!
Major LEC Changes
The LEC has always had a three-segment format including Winter, Spring and Summer splits. However, its previously included Season Finals section and Champions Points mechanic will be removed in 2025. Winter Split Playoffs will also now operate with a new Fearless Draft system.
The new LEC format aims to align the three LEC splits with the in-game Competitive seasons. In addition, LEC competitors will utilize the latest patch for all possible matches. These changes aim to make LEC and ranked experiences more similar so players have a more connected experience to the tournament.
As of 2025, all three LEC events will grant their winners an LEC trophy and a qualification to the circuit's new International Tournament. Teams will have multiple chances to qualify with this adjustment.
What is Fearless Draft?
Fearless Draft is a unique ruleset that forces players to dig deep into their champion pool. While the specifics vary region-by-region, the format essentially means that in a series (best-of-three or best-of-five) the champions picked in the previous game cannot be used again for the rest of the match. So if Fnatic played Gnar in the top lane, they would not have access to Gnar for the rest of the series.
2025 LEC Season Format
Winter Split
The LEC Winter Split is a three-week series beginning on January 18 2024. It will originally contain single brackets within a round-robin Best of 1 series. The top eight teams from the round-robin section will enter double-elimination Playoff brackets with varied Best of 3 and Best of 5 formats. These Winter Split Playoffs will introduce the Fearless Draft system, and the Grand Final Winter Split winner will be crowned the first LEC Champion and gain entry to the International Tournament.
Spring Split
Spring Split will be twice as long as the LEC Winter Split with a seven-week regular Competitive season containing all Best of 3 brackets. In these Best of 3 brackets, every LEC team will play 9 matches against each other qualifying team. The top six of these teams will qualify for Playoffs, where they will undergo a double-elimination bracket with no Fearless Draft. While only one Champion will be crowned, both Spring Split finalists will attain a spot at MSI.
Summer Split
The Summer Split is the LEC's final Split and contains four groups of the top ten LEC teams. They will compete in four Best of 3 matches each, and the top two teams in each group will advance. The progressing teams will play across groups. Six teams will continue to Playoffs in double-elimination games until the final Split winner is crowned and all 3 teams representing EMEA at Worlds are confirmed.
2025 LEC Events
The 2025 LEC will have several in-person events. During the Spring Split, Riot Games plans to partner with several teams and collaborate to host a small number of in-person matches in the teams' local countries. More details about the project and corresponding venues, dates and times will release as the Split approaches. In addition, the 2025 LEC will also host a Summer Finals roadshow at the end of the Summer Split. Riot Games has stated that further details about this event will arise as we approach the new year.
