Riot Games reshapes the LEC: what awaits teams in 2026

According to Sheep Esports, Riot Games is preparing a brand-new Kickoff Tournament to replace the Winter Split. The event will feature 12 teams: the ten permanent LEC participants and two squads from the ERL ecosystem — the EMEA Masters Summer champion and the team with the best results throughout the year.

The first invitation has already gone to Marc " Caedrel " Lamont’s Los Ratones, who have dominated the ERL with victories in all NLC splits and back-to-back EMEA Masters titles in 2025.

The winner of the Kickoff Tournament will secure a slot at The First Stand, Riot Games’ first international tournament of the year, set to take place in Brazil in 2026. This means an ERL team could reach the international stage for the very first time. Most likely, the format of The First Stand will also be adjusted, since the previous edition was, to put it mildly, too raw and too short. Another reason for the change is the growing number of contenders looking to qualify for the event.

The Spring and Summer Splits of the LEC will keep the standard ten-team format. However, the situation remains unclear regarding academy squads (Karmine Corp Blue, Vitality.Bee, etc.). If one of them were to qualify, questions arise about how they would compete against their organization’s main roster in the same tournament.

The new format is inspired by experiments from other Tier-1 leagues and could mark the beginning of deeper integration between ERL and LEC in the future.