League of Legends 2026 First Stand preview

Hannan Mundia Published 12/03/2026

First Stand will be the first competitive League of Legends international event of 2026. This preview goes through all of the necessary details, including First Stand’s location, prize pool, and schedule, ensuring fans can tune in live to support their favorite teams and players.

The 2026 First Stand is the newest of the three international competitions in the circuit. Launched in 2025, this year’s tournament is slated to start on March 16th. Eight First Stand teams have qualified through their respective regional leagues to be here.

2026 League of Legends First Stand location and prize

The 2026 First Stand will take place at the Riot Games Arena in São Paulo, Brazil, with a $1,000,000 prize pool up for grabs.

This is refreshing because the 2025 version was in Seoul, South Korea. It’s worth knowing that this isn’t the first time a large-scale League of Legends tournament has been held in Brazil. The most notable tournament was the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational, which was held at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

G2’s Caps – Image credit: LoL Esports

The eight qualified teams will compete for a 1 million dollar prize pool, which will be distributed based on every team’s ranking. The table below details how the prize money will be work out.

Placement	Reward (USD)
1st	$250,000
2nd	$150,000
3rd-4th	$125,000
5th-6th	$100,000
7th-8th	$75,000

Hanwha Life Esports won $300,000 for taking first place at last year’s First Stand. This was because the lower number of participating teams meant that there was more money to go around. First Stand is still fairly new, especially compared to the other two international competitions. Because of this, changes are to be expected until Riot feels that it’s at a stable place.

Complete League of Legends 2026 First Stand schedule

Unlike last year’s event, 2026’s First Stand tournament will see a group stage that will transition into a knockout stage to determine the final rankings.

The group stage will kick off on March 16. The eight teams will be divided into teams of four to compete against each other in best-of-five matches, with Fearless Draft implemented. The double-bracket stage will see the top two teams from both groups proceed to the knockout stage. This also means that the bottom two teams will be eliminated from the tournament.

March 21 will see the start of the knockout stage. During it, the remaining four teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket. Every match will again be a Bo5, and the grand final will take place on March 22. The winning team will get a majority of the prize money. The team will also secure its region a second bye into the bracket stage of this year’s MSI.

We expect the 2026 First Stand League of Legends tournament to be amazing to watch, so make sure to follow us for additional details. Also, the event will be an excellent choice for people wishing to bet on League of Legends because we will see loads of special options and features.

Feature image credit: LoL Esports

Hannan Mundia

About Hannan Mundia

Hannan Mundia is a lifelong gamer. Don’t believe us? Just ask him. But don’t ask how many hours he’s spent playing. He’s been gaming since the age of three, and much of his live revolves around video games and the video game industry. Whether it’s a classic Legend of Zelda game from Nintendo, the newest Bethesda RPG, or something else entirely, you can bet that Hannan is ready and willing to play it.

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