2025 LPL season

The 2025 LPL season is the ongoing 13th season of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), a Chinese professional esports league for the video game League of Legends. It is the first LPL season under the new three-split structure and competitive calendar introduced by the game's developer Riot Games starting with the 2025 competitive season.^[1] Unlike past seasons, the 2025 LPL season is merged into three stages. The season began on 12 January.

In line with Riot Games' announcement of a new split structure and competitive calendar for League of Legends esports beginning with the 2025 competitive season, the LPL announced on 14 December 2024 a three-stage season, with each stage having a different format.^[2] In addition, a season champion will be crowned after the third stage, and results from one stage will have implications for a team's seeding and placing for the succeeding stages. Initially, only Split 1 had "Fearless Draft", which was popularized by China's LoL Development League, where teams cannot pick a champion that they've already played in a series, even if the champion was picked by the opposing team. However, before the final of the 2025 First Stand Tournament on 16 March 2025, Riot Games announced that the format would continue for the rest of the season, including LPL's Split 2 and Split 3.^[3]

Only one team change occurred heading into the 2025 season. On 18 November 2024, the LPL repurchased Rare Atom's franchise slot, with the organization citing financial difficulties. With RA's departure, the league reduced to 16 teams.^[4]

Split 1 featured sixteen (16) competing teams during the Regular Season and were divided into four groups of four teams. Each team in their respective groups played a single round-robin where all matches were played as best-of-fives. The top two (2) teams in each group advanced to the eight-team Double-elimination tournament bracket, where all matches were also best-of-fives. The top seeds from each group were placed in the upper bracket while second seeds from each group were placed in the lower bracket. The winner of Split 1 qualified for the 2025 First Stand Tournament as the league's lone representative.^[5]

In addition to "Fearless Draft", side selection during the first game of each best-of-five series was decided by a one-on-one solo match. All subsequent games in a series had side selection given to the losing team.^[6]

The remaining teams were drawn into their respective matchups during a draw show on 16 February 2025.

Source: LoL Esports

Split 2 featured four phases – Group Stage, Rumble Stage, Knights Rivals and Playoffs, with the same (16) competing teams from Split 1 during the Regular Season. For the group stage, teams were re-seeded into four groups of four teams, similar to Split 1, based on the results from the said stage. Each team in their respective groups play a double round-robin where all matches are played in best-of-ones. The top two (2) teams in each of the four groups during the group stage advanced to "Group Ascend" for the rumble stage, while the third ranked teams in each group competed in a double-elimination play-in bracket, with a mix of best-of-one and best-of-three matches to determine the last two (2) spots in Ascend. The bottom ranked team in each group were placed in "Group Nirvana".

In the rumble stage, teams in the Ascend group competed in a double round-robin, while those in the Nirvana group were in a single round-robin. In each group, all matches were played in best-of-threes. The top four (4) Ascend teams advanced to the playoffs, while the next six teams qualified for the Knights Rivals stage. Meanwhile, the top two (2) teams of "Group Nirvana" joined latter stage. Teams that placed third and fourth were eliminated but featured in Split 3. The bottom two (2) Nirvana teams were eliminated from the 2025 LPL season.^[7][8]

The "Knights Rivals" Stage was a play-in tournament where the bottom six (6) Ascend teams and the top two (2) Nirvana teams competed in best-of-five matches, with the winning four (4) teams advancing to the playoffs. The playoffs were contested in an eight-team Double-elimination tournament bracket, where all matches were played in best-of-fives. The top four teams that advanced from Group Ascend got to choose their opponents in the upper bracket. The two (2) finalists automatically qualified for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational, with the winner of Split 1 earning the LPL's first seed and the runner-up as the second seed.

A group stage draw was conducted on 14 March 2025 to determine the composition of the four groups.

• Dates of Matches: 22 & 26 March
• EDG and WE had a tie-breaker match for 3rd place, which WE won.

• Dates of Matches: 24 & 28 March

• Dates of Matches: 25 & 29 March

• Dates of Matches: 23 & 27 March

Source: LoL Esports

In Split 3, the remaining fourteen (14) teams entered the rumble stage. The teams that played in the Split 2 Playoffs will automatically be placed in "Group Ascend", while the remaining six (6) teams were placed in "Group Nirvana". Each team in their respective groups are playing a double round-robin where all matches are being played in best-of-threes, with the top four (4) Ascend teams advancing to the playoffs and the bottom four of the same group advancing to the "Knights Rivals" stage. Meanwhile, the top four (4) Nirvana teams will also join the said stage, with the bottom two teams automatically eliminated.

Teams in the "Knights Rivals" Stage will compete in best-of-five matches, with the winners advancing to the playoffs. The playoffs, much like Split 2, will be contested in an eight-team Double-elimination tournament bracket, where all matches will be played in best-of-fives. The top three teams that advanced from Group Ascend will get to choose their opponents in the upper bracket while the fourth-ranked team will play against the team that was not selected.^[6] The top four (4) teams from the playoffs will qualify for the 2025 League of Legends World Championship, as an additional slot was unlocked by virtue of being one of the top two regions at MSI 2025. The winner of Split 3 will be crowned the Season Champion.^[5]

Side selection for Game 1s will be decided by a coinflip, where the winners will pick their side for the first game, while the losing team will get to choose for the following game. When a series reaches Game 5, the losing team in Game 4 will get to choose.^[9]