The 2021 League of Legends Worlds Championship Finals will officially take place in Shenzhen, China. Riot Games announced the news on Friday during their Season 2021 video, detailing other surprises in store for League of Legends in the upcoming year. This will be the second time the Worlds Championship takes place in China, where Riot Games held the 2020 Worlds Finals at the Pudong City Stadium in Shanghai under strict COVID-19 guidelines.
The Global Head of Esports, John Needham, explained their plans on returning to China this year. “Instead of the mostly virtual Worlds you saw in 2020,” he stated, “we’re planning to take our fans on a massive tour of multiple cities across China.” Needham also suggests this Worlds will be the biggest esports tournament and sporting event ever.
Needless to say, the pandemic had taken a toll on Riot Games right before the start of Worlds 2020. Besides facing quarantine concerns, maybe players had issues receiving a China visa to take part in the tournament. Overall, there was plenty of moving around and trial and error, and this year may provide a fresh perspective for Riot to make it the best LoL event yet.
2021 Worlds and the COVID-19 pandemic
Best case scenario, fans will take part in a grand tour across several cities, introducing them to the different lifestyles and places in China. The last stop on the tour will be Shenzhen, a major city sitting on the central coast of southern Guangdong Province. The city, known to be modern and technologically advanced, might be the best place to host the event and give China the full-on Worlds experience they missed out on last year.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable, these plans may not be set entirely in stone. In 2020, Riot worked on being as transparent as possible regarding the scheduling and location of Worlds, so fans may expect to see the same, if not better, kind of transparency this year.
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