The LPL Explained: China's League, Its Champions and Its Korea Rivalry

When Invictus Gaming swept Fnatic in Incheon in 2018, it did more than win a trophy. It ended five straight Korean world titles and proved that China's league could beat the LCK on the biggest stage. Eight years later, Bilibili Gaming goes into the Worlds 2026 final against Gen.G on November 14, looking to give the LPL its first world title since 2021.

The LPL is the League of Legends Pro League, China's top division, and alongside Korea's LCK it is one of the two strongest leagues in the game. Here is how it works and why it matters.

How the LPL works

The LPL was founded in 2013, with a first season in the spring of that year. It is owned by Tencent, which also owns Riot Games, and since 2019 China's League esports business has been run by TJ Sports, a joint venture between Riot and Tencent. The second division is the League of Legends Development League (LDL), and the league also runs a domestic cup, the Demacia Cup.

Unlike the LCK, which plays almost entirely in Seoul, the LPL has spread across the country. Most teams are based in Shanghai, but others play home games in Beijing, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Xi'an. The league is bigger, too, with more teams than Korea's ten. Its regular season is a single round-robin of best-of-threes, with best-of-five playoffs, a format modelled on the LCK's.

Since 2025, the season has been split into three splits. The Split 1 winner goes to First Stand, the top two of Split 2 go to MSI, and Worlds places are decided by the Split 3 champion, a championship-points ranking and regional finals.

The champions

The LPL has won three World Championships:

• 2018, Invictus Gaming, 3-0 over Fnatic in Incheon, with jungler Ning as MVP
• 2019, FunPlus Phoenix, 3-0 over G2 Esports in Paris, with jungler Tian as MVP
• 2021, EDward Gaming, 3-2 over DWG KIA in Reykjavik, with mid laner Scout as MVP

Chinese teams have also finished as Worlds runners-up five times, and the LPL has won five MSI titles, tied with the LCK for the most of any region. At home, EDward Gaming has won the most LPL titles with six, ahead of Royal Never Give Up and Bilibili Gaming with five each and JD Gaming with four.

2026: Bilibili's year

The 2026 LPL belonged to Bilibili Gaming. BLG won Split 1 and Split 2, then First Stand in São Paulo in March, its first international title, beating G2 Esports 3-1 in the final with top laner Bin as MVP. It reached the MSI final and lost 2-3 to Hanwha Life. Anyone's Legend won Split 3.

The LPL sent four teams to Worlds 2026: Anyone's Legend as Split 3 champion, BLG on championship points, and Top Esports and Invictus Gaming through the regional qualifiers. Three of them reached the knockouts. IG beat Top Esports 3-1 in an all-Chinese quarterfinal before Gen.G swept it in the semis, and BLG knocked out Hanwha Life, Dplus KIA and T1 to reach the final.

Korean players, Chinese teams

The LPL and the LCK are rivals, but they are also connected. Korean players have long been a feature of Chinese rosters. BLG's ADC in 2026 is Park "Viper" Do-hyeon, who won Worlds with EDG in 2021 and First Stand with Hanwha Life in 2025; Scout, EDG's 2021 MVP, is also Korean, and returned home in 2026 to play for Nongshim RedForce. Traffic goes the other way too: T1's 2026 ADC Peyz came back to Korea from JD Gaming.

Why it matters

The rivalry between the LPL and LCK is what makes Worlds compelling. Korea has won ten titles to China's three, but China has more teams, more cities and, in 2026, the team that beat three Korean sides at the same tournament. If BLG beats Gen.G on November 14, it ends a run of four straight Korean world titles. For how BLG got to Brooklyn, read our Worlds 2026 road-to-the-final story.