League of Legends World Championship to head to Shanghai in 2020

Riot Games has revealed that the 2020 League of Legends World Championship finals will be held at the Shanghai Stadium.

Next year’s tournament will be the 10th annual world championship for the MOBA title.

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Along with a new venue, there will be more cities involved in hosting the tournament. This year’s iteration saw Berlin host the group stage, Madrid host the quarterfinals and semifinals, and Paris host the finals. 2020 will see six cities across China hosting different stages of the events, though Shanghai is the only location to be unveiled at the time of writing.

The last time Worlds headed to China was in 2017, where the finals were held at the Beijing National Stadium with over 44,000 seats being filled. It’s worth noting that several teams in the Chinese LPL have their own home venues, though it’s unclear as to whether any will be utilised next year.

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The city of Shanghai is no stranger to hosting major esports events. Just this year, Dota 2’s The International 9 was held in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. In August, it was announced that NetEase was planning an esports park in the city.

Esports Insider says: With the upcoming tournament being the tenth iteration, Riot Games will likely pull  out all the stops to create a spectacle to fill all 56,000 seats in the Shanghai Stadium. This year’s event has just concluded and the anticipation for the next is already building.

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