The Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) and Riot Games Korea announced that starting from the 9th, they are accepting applications from cities interested in hosting the knockout stage of the 2027 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship. The 2027 LoL World Championship will return to South Korea for the first time in four years since 2023, and will be held for approximately one month starting in late October.

Local governments interested in hosting must submit a letter of intent and related documents via the official email (worlds-hostcity@e-sports.or.kr) by 6 PM on Sunday, April 5. The association will review the proposals submitted by the local governments and select the final host city in August of this year.

The LoL World Championship is the official international tournament that concludes the League of Legends season. Eighteen club teams that have achieved excellent results in their respective regional leagues will participate to compete for the world championship title. The total prize pool is $5 million (approximately 7.4 billion KRW).

This recruitment focuses on the knockout stage, a core phase of the tournament. The knockout stage is where the top eight teams that have passed the Play-in and Swiss stages compete in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. Bidders can propose hosting the quarter-finals and semi-finals in one location and the final in another, or hosting all matches from the quarter-finals to the final in a single venue.

The association plans to cooperate with the host local government to provide opportunities for esports fans and the general public to experience esports culture and the host city's content together. This is expected to serve as an opportunity to enhance the international competitiveness of South Korean esports and promote the global status of the LoL World Championship.

Meanwhile, at the 2024 LoL World Championship final held in London, the match between T1 and BLG was watched by 50 million concurrent viewers worldwide. At the time, approximately 20,000 spectators visited the venue.