The LEC will start play for the 2021 season on January 22

It’s finally official that the 2021 LEC season will start on Friday, January 22. 

The date has been set by Riot as the official start date shortly after the LCS announced its new league format and start dates. While the LCS is making big changes to the format, the LEC is looking to keep the format from 2020 and continue to build up the European brand on the backs of the talented players within the region. 

This means that the LEC will continue to have a spring and summer split, where the summer split will be the most important for teams to qualify for Worlds. The spring split will still determine which team will represent Europe at the Mid-Season Invitational. 

Even though the 2021 LEC season might not return to live play from the studio right away, there will be plenty of great storylines and strong teams to keep an eye on. The offseason has been packed with roster changes, including several rookies coming in to prove their worth. Teams such as Astralis, SK Gaming, and Misfits have bet hard on developing new talent and it will be interesting to see if they succeed. 

In 2020, MAD Lions succeeded with a squad full of rookies, and it’s now clear that other organizations are looking to repeat that success. For the top teams, it looks like G2 Esports and Fnatic will once again be the teams to keep an eye on after making some key changes. 

The big story will be how former Fnatic bot laner Martin “Rekkles” Larsson will do over at G2, while Fnatic will redefine its team with a new mid laner and bot laner in Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer and Elias “Upset” Lipp, respectively.  

The 2021 LEC season is looking to be another banger and fans only have to wait a few more weeks before the new rosters hit Summoner’s Rift. 

When does the LEC 2021 start?

The official start date for the 2021 LEC season will be on January 22, according to Riot. Fans and players finally have a date to look forward to, but Riot didn’t provide additional information about the schedule, nor what time the show starts. The format will consist of a regular split where all teams play each other two times, followed up by the playoffs stage. In the playoffs, the six best teams from the regular split will duke it out in a double-elimination bracket. 

Where is the LEC held?

The LEC is located in Berlin, where the games are usually broadcasted from. In 2020, the season has been different since all teams have been playing remote since March. It was only at the 2020 World Championship where teams got to play together on a live stage. For the 2021 season, it’s still unknown if the teams and the rest of the broadcast will return to play live from the LEC studio in Berlin. 

What does LEC stand for in LoL?

The LEC stands for “League of Legends European Championship”. The league is the best in Europe and is considered one of the four major leagues in the World. This means that the best teams from the LEC can qualify for the World Championship through one of the four seeds.