Riot Games announced Tuesday the launch of the APAC League for League of Legends Esports in 2025, which will bring together the top teams from Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Japan, Oceania, and Southeast Asia.
The region currently is home to the Pacific Championship Series (PCS), Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), League of Legends Japan League (LJL), and the League of Legends Circuit Oceania (LCO). With the APAC League Riot will determine which eight teams will be Tier-1 teams in 2025 based on the results of the 2024 PCS and VCS Summer Split Playoffs, giving participating teams from VCS, PCS, LJL, and LCO a chance to secure their spot in 2025. A total of eight teams will be part of the 2025 APAC League.
Riot said that in future seasons, a promotion/relegation league model will be put in place to give “guest teams” the opportunity to get promoted from “their respective domestic leagues.”
According to an organizational league chart shown to The Esports Advocate during a recent media briefing, the system categorizes the LCO, LJL, and VCS as Tier-2 relegation/promotion leagues.
“Competitive merit has always been an integral part of success for teams within APAC, and we look forward to using it as both the recruitment foundation of the inaugural year as well as a way to ensure dynamic competition, diverse representation, and an opportunity to give wider access to the new League across the APAC ecosystem,” Riot wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
This year, teams in the PCS, LJL, and LCO determine who takes up the one MSI slot and 2 Worlds slots, while the VCS received one MSI slot and 2 Worlds slots. In 2025 the consolidated regional league will be entitled to a total of 2 MSI slots and 3 Worlds slots.
The consolidation of the region—along with changes to leagues in North and South America—brings the total number of leagues from eight to five: APAC League, Americas League, LEC, LPL, and LCK.
Learn more about the other changes coming to League of Legends Esports in 2025:
