The plans for the League of Legends World Championship have been torn up a few times in the last few years but things are going as scheduled in 2022.
LCS commissioner Chris Greeley confirmed to Travis Gafford that Worlds 2022 will take place in North America in an interview published to Gafford’s YouTube channel. While this has long been the plan, a number of different variables put those plans in doubt. But when asked about Worlds coming to North America in 2022, Greeley made it clear that the largest League of Legends event of the year will be in North America next year.
“Yes, yes it will. It will be here across four cities in North America, all to be announced later on by our global team,” Greeley said.
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North America was originally meant to host Worlds 2021 but those plans changed in 2020 when safety restrictions saw most of Worlds 2020 in China take place behind closed doors. Riot Games planned to make it up to the Chinese fans by having Worlds return to China in 2021 to have the event take place in front of a crowd but plans changed once again earlier this month. Reports circulated that Worlds 2021 was instead set to take place in Europe due to travel restrictions hampering Riot Games’ production team.
This opened the door to again push back Worlds returning to North America in order to satiate the Chinese fandom’s appetite, but the plan at the moment is to keep Worlds 2022 in Riot Games’ backyard. No information was given on where Worlds 2022 will take place but Greeley said it will take place in four cities in North America. Odds are that Los Angeles, California will be among them, with games likely to be played in the LCS Arena.
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If all goes according to plan, Worlds 2022 will be the first time Worlds has taken place in North America since 2016.
Unfortunately, it remains uncertain where Worlds 2021 will take place. Worlds 2022 is in about the same state as Worlds 2021, with no exact venues confirmed for the event at this time. As with Worlds 2022, odds are that part of the event will take place in the local franchised league’s stadium, in this case the LEC Studio in Berlin, Germany. Outside that, nothing is guaranteed.
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Worlds was last brought to Europe in 2019 with the play-in stage taking place in the LEC Studio in Berlin, the group stage taking place in a different venue in Berlin, the first two rounds of the playoffs taking place in Madrid, and the finals taking place in Paris. Because Worlds 2021 is being relocated in a hurry, things will likely look much different this year.
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