EMEA Masters 2025 unveils new formats and slot distribution

Game developer Riot Games has announced the official format for EMEA Masters 2025, League of Legends’ most prominent events within the tier two EMEA ecosystem.

According to the new format, EMEA Masters Winter, which is confirmed to begin on March 17th, will see a total of 16 teams competing for the title.

Each ERL’s winter champion and three additional second seeds will take part, with teams seeded into four groups of four teams. Using a GSL group stage format participants with the same score will face each other in a best-of-three (BO3) series. Regional protection will be applied to avoid teams from the same region facing one another.

The top eight teams will then play a single elimination bracket to determine the EMEA Masters Winter champion.

EMEA Masters Spring will feature the same format as Winter with the group stage but there will be no Fearless Draft mode and the number of participants will increase to 32 squads.

Six of the 13 ERLs will be given three slots based on historical performances from the past two seasons, while the remaining leagues will be given two slots. The playoffs will see the top 16 teams play a single-elimination bracket of best-of-five (BO5) matches.

The last tournament of 2025, EMEA Masters Summer, will be similar to the previous edition, featuring a total of 44 teams from the ERLs. There will be three slots given to each ERL and an additional one for the five best-performing leagues.

Just like in 2024, EMEA Masters Summer will kick off with a Last Chance Qualifier, as 16 teams will compete in a region-protected group stage to determine the four group winners that qualify for the Swiss stage.

In this phase, 32 teams will play against teams with the same record that are not from the same region. The teams to claim four victories first will advance to playoffs, which will crown the EMEA Summer champion after a single-elimination bracket of best-of-five (BO5) matches.