Riot Games has made a massive announcement: going forward, all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will form one unified competitive region for League of Legends eSports, named EMEA. The merger has also resulted in significant structural changes to the LEC.
In honor of its 10th anniversary, Riot Games has decided to usher in a new era for League of Legends eSports by combining the European, Turkish, Commonwealth of Independent States, and Middle East and North Africa regions into a single, unified EMEA zone.
Over the last decade, Riot Games has been an integral part of making eSports a massive, high-quality entertainment sector. The company has announced its plans to improve the League of Legends European Championship and other aspects of the tournament to ensure that it can continue to provide its players the greatest possible experience in eSports events throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
This is an especially smart move as the Arab world has proven time and again to show great enthusiasm for eSports, through amazingly competitive teams and avid fans that are more than willing to bet on the success of their teams. They usually do so by visiting sites like https://www.arabicbet.org, which also offers them the added benefit of showing the best odds available for matches, as well as the latest news from the world of eSports.
Turning The Heat Up In The Competition
These adjustments were made so that in the future, EMEA can play a larger role as a tournament center for competitive eSports. A representative from Riot Games commented on how these alterations will aid LoL players, both pros and amateurs, from the area, by giving them more avenues to the world’s best eSports tournaments. As a result of this massive change, every European LoL competition will need to adjust to a new playing field, which we describe in detail below.
The Fresh EMEA Structure Explained
The merger will create significant changes to the LEC’s intricate infrastructure, although these changes will take place gradually over time. At first, the Arabian League will become part of the EMEA Regional League (ERL) circuit (AL). as well as the Turkish First Division League (TCL).
The European Union’s second-tier competition, formerly known as EU Masters, is expanding to include players from the Middle East and Africa, thus the name change to EMEA Masters.
Fewer Imports Means Greater Freedom
With these adjustments to the regulation, European, Turkish, and Middle Eastern players will no longer be subject to Riot Games’ Interregional Movement Policy and will be able to participate in the LoL EMEA Championship without being labeled as imports.
Professional League of Legends’ apex, the LEC European and Middle Eastern regional finals will be more accessible to players from all across the globe.
The Continental League Is In Stand-By
The League of Legends Continental League (LCL) will stay on hold until the situation in Ukraine improves. Meanwhile, Riot will keep an eye on things and choose whether or not to add the league to the European Regional League at a later date.
New Structure, Same Name
The LEC will soon bear the full title of The League of Legends EMEA Championship, although it will keep the old acronym, LEC since it still fits. Of course, as will be made obvious below, the LEC is undergoing a transformation in more ways than just its name and its merger. The most prestigious tournament in the EMEA region is also considering a radical format change.
Splits And Finals Rearranged
The whole tournament will be broken up into three different splits and a single LEC Season Finals. Each subsequent split will occur in the subsequent winter, spring, and summer seasons. The Winter and Spring seasons will occur before Mid Season Invitational, the Summer season and the LEC Season Finals will occur after MSI but before Worlds.
At the outset of each Split, there will be a single round of best-of-one play. Eight teams will advance to the next round of play. For the group stage, the top four teams advance to the playoffs in a best-of-three double-elimination style. The playoffs are the last stage of the split and will be contested in a best-of-five format.
Who Will Be Good Enough For The Finals?
As a means of determining who represents the best of the best in the EMEA, Riot Games has chosen to invite the top six teams from the whole year to the LEC Season Finals. A team’s qualification is certain if they have won any of the splits. On top of the requirements above, the last criterion to qualify for the Worlds tournament is that a team should be among the top teams in the LEC season finals.
The 2022 season has concluded, but in 2023 we look forward to seeing what the new EMEA area has in store by seeing the birth of new stars in the different countries of the region.
