Worlds is back in North America for the first time since 2022, and after three weeks of play eight teams reached the knockouts.
The 2026 League of Legends World Championship opened with the Play-In in Los Angeles on October 15, moved to the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas for the Swiss stage, and is now in a single elimination knockout bracket where every series is best of five.
The storylines are easy to find. T1, champions in 2023, 2024 and 2025, are chasing a fourth straight title. Gen.G and Dplus KIA swept through Swiss at 3-0.
Three LPL teams made it, including an all Chinese quarterfinal between Top Esports and Invictus Gaming. Hanwha Life Esports, this year's MSI champions, went out at 2-3 after a 0-2 loss to Bilibili Gaming in the final Swiss round.
And for fans in the West there are two teams to follow: LYON, carrying the LCS, and Karmine Corp, who started in the Play-In and are now one series away from the semifinals.
Because the knockouts are played in Texas and the final in New York, start times shift between Central and Eastern time and land late in the evening in Europe.
Below you will find the full knockout schedule with local times, the semifinal paths, a stage by stage summary of the format, and a short checklist for following the bracket. At the end there is also a way to keep your own ranked games with the DOR League of Legends recorder after watching the pros.
Worlds 2026 knockout schedule and bracket (US Central time unless noted)
| Date and start time | Series | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Nov 3, 4 PM CT | QF: Invictus Gaming 3-1 Top Esports | IG reach the semifinals and TES are out in the only same region quarterfinal (LPL vs LPL); both teams went 3-1 in Swiss |
| Wed Nov 4, 4 PM CT | QF: Gen.G vs LYON | Gen.G won their Swiss round 3 meeting 2-1, and LYON are the only team to take a game off Gen.G at this event |
| Thu Nov 5, 4 PM CT | QF: Dplus KIA vs Bilibili Gaming | DK went 3-0 in Swiss; BLG knocked out MSI champion Hanwha Life 2-0 in round 5 to finish 3-2 |
| Fri Nov 6, 4 PM CT | QF: T1 vs Karmine Corp | T1 chase a fourth straight title; KC came through the Play-In and beat T1 2-1 at EWC this summer |
| Sat Nov 7 or Sun Nov 8, 4 PM CT | SF: Gen.G/LYON winner vs Invictus Gaming | IG are already through on this side; check the official schedule for the day |
| Sat Nov 7 or Sun Nov 8, 4 PM CT | SF: DK/BLG winner vs T1/KC winner | If DK and T1 both win, this is an all LCK semifinal |
| Sat Nov 14, 2 PM ET (1 PM CT) | Grand Final | Barclays Center, Brooklyn, best of five |
Worlds 2026 semifinal paths: who meets whom
The quarterfinal draw followed the official rule for this format. The two 3-0 teams, Gen.G and Dplus KIA, were drawn against two of the three 3-2 teams, LYON and Bilibili Gaming, and the remaining four teams (T1, Invictus Gaming, Top Esports and Karmine Corp) were drawn into two more series.
Gen.G and DK were also placed on opposite halves of the bracket, so they cannot meet before the final. One half holds Gen.G vs LYON and TES vs IG. Invictus Gaming took the first semifinal spot by beating Top Esports 3-1 on November 3 and will face the Gen.G/LYON winner.
That series was paused after game 3, and Korean outlet Kukinews reported that play resumed about an hour and a half later. The official broadcast said only that officials were resolving an emergent internal issue with the tournament platform, and the cause had not been disclosed as of November 4.
The other half holds DK vs BLG and T1 vs KC. If both DK and T1 win, the second semifinal becomes an all LCK series. If Karmine Corp beat T1, a rematch of the EWC semifinal they won 2-1 this summer, they would face either DK or BLG for a place in the final.
As of November 4, 2026, the order of the two semifinals (which one is played on November 7 and which on November 8) had not been confirmed in the sources we checked, so look at the official LoL Esports schedule once the quarterfinals end.
One more factor worth watching: the teams that finished Swiss early, like Gen.G and DK, have had more than a week off before their quarterfinals, and match sharpness after a long break has been a talking point in previews.
How Worlds 2026 works, from Play-In to final
- 1Play-In (October 15 to 18, Los Angeles)Four teams played a double elimination bracket, every series best of five, at Riot Games Arena for the last spot in Swiss. Karmine Corp won it and have gone on to reach the quarterfinals.
- 2Swiss stage (October 23 to 31, Allen, Texas)Sixteen teams were paired against opponents with the same record. Three wins sent a team through and three losses sent it home. Series with qualification or elimination on the line were best of three, the rest best of one, and eight teams advanced.
- 3Quarterfinals (November 3 to 6, 4 PM CT)One best of five per day, single elimination, at the same Allen venue. Best of three and best of five series use Fearless Draft, so a champion picked in one game cannot be picked again by either team for the rest of that series.
- 4Semifinals (November 7 and 8, 4 PM CT)The four winners play best of five for a place in the final. There is no third place match, so both semifinal losers finish joint third.
- 5Grand final (November 14, 2 PM ET, Brooklyn)The title is decided in a best of five at Barclays Center in New York. That is 11 AM PT, 7 PM in the UK and 8 PM CET.
Before you follow the Worlds 2026 knockouts
- Convert the start time: 4 PM CT is 5 PM ET, 2 PM PT, 10 PM GMT and 11 PM CET for every quarterfinal and semifinal.
- Note that the final moves to Eastern time: 2 PM ET on Saturday, November 14, which is 1 PM CT and 7 PM GMT.
- Know your team's path: if they win their quarterfinal, Gen.G meet IG, DK meet the T1/KC winner, and T1 meet the DK/BLG winner.
- Plan for long series. A best of five can run to five games, so a 4 PM start can go well into the evening.
- If you are saving matches for later, mute esports apps and social feeds until you have watched.
Watched the pros? Let DOR keep your own games
After a Worlds series it is hard not to queue up and try the same champion yourself, and that match is the one worth keeping. DOR is a free Windows app: leave it running, launch League of Legends, and it detects the game and records the whole match.
In League it also cuts highlight clips automatically for kills, multikills from double kill to pentakill, and objectives such as dragons and Baron, and everything collects in My Clips in the app. Our pentakill clip guide shows how those moments are saved.
Replay and spectator recording are on by default in League's per mode recording settings, so when you play back one of your .rofl replays in the client, that playback is recorded too. To compare a pro teamfight with the same moment in your own game, follow the review routine in how to get better at League of Legends.
When you find a play worth sharing, trim it in the app as a 9:16 vertical clip or send a dor.gg link that opens right in a phone browser.
