Riot Games announced the starting dates for the League of Legends European Championship, the European Regional Leagues and the Amazon European Masters Spring. The top league begins on Jan. 14 and will again feature two super weeks of matches.
The #LEC Returns – All the Dates You Need to Know!
Read: https://t.co/guWyntBuJ9 pic.twitter.com/LzcIuHXHB2
— LEC (@LEC) November 29, 2021
Super weeks consist of three days matches, with five matches on each day, as opposed to the typical two that run Friday and Saturday. The league’s playoffs start two months later, on March 25, with the final matches scheduled for April 9 and 10. The playoffs, usually played on a roadshow outside of the traditional Berlin studio, will take place once again at the studio due to COVID-19 precautions and uncertainty around future venue availability.
The Tier 2 ERL’s will also start around the same time; Jan. 10 for accredited leagues and Jan. 17 for non-accredited leagues. Riot Games recently put in place an accreditation system for ERLs. Those included in the official system are the LVP Superliga, La Ligue Française de League of Legends and the Prime League. The non-accredited leagues, which will start a week later than the others, include the Italian league, PG Nationals and the Portuguese League of Legends League.
The last part of the announcement also specified the start and end date for the ERL end-of-split tournament, Amazon EU Masters. The 28-team tournament will start with the play-in stage at the tail end of the LEC playoffs on April 4 and it will end on May 8.
The LEC 2022 season will also welcome a new franchise into the league in Team BDS. The organization will replace FC Schalke 04 Esports in their slot and join the top league after a few years in the ERLs.
In 2021, the LEC saw back-to-back champions, with MAD Lions taking the playoff crown in both spring and summer splits. The regular season saw G2 Esports claim the spring crown while Rogue Esports did the same in the summer. Both teams placed second in the split they did not outright win.
The LEC’s 2022 season starts off on Jan. 14 and fans can watch the matches in the new year on the LEC Twitch and YouTube.
