Riot Games has announced that five different cities in China will host the 2021 League of Legends World Championship. This initiative is part of the multi-city tour Riot has planned for the 2021 Worlds. These cities include Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Chengdu and Shenzen.
We are excited to announce the five host cities for the 2021 League of Legends World Championship! #Worlds2021 pic.twitter.com/N6x59LAPc7
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) June 16, 2021
Furthermore, Riot stated that the dates for cities to host a tournament stage will be revealed later. But, the finals of Worlds 2021 will hold in Shenzhen on November 6. After this, North America will host Worlds in 2022.
More details for the host cities for Worlds 2021—No certainty on live viewers yet
Global Head of Esports at Riot Games, John Needham said that they locked in the five Chinese cities after “an extremely competitive bidding process”. He also made it clear that they were now set to deliver on their promise with a multi-city tour this year. Although Worlds was held in China last year, the corona virus pandemic limited it to Shanghai.
For this year’s Worlds, each city will host one of the stages. So, players get to travel to different notable cities in China depending on how far they progress in the tournament. While 2021 Worlds will occur in different cities, there is no certainty on whether fans will be allowed into the venues. The 2021 Worlds final takes place on November 6 at the Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen. The Centre boasts a seating capacity of 60,344.
However, there may be a restricted amount of live spectators at the venue. During the 2020 Worlds final, just 6,312 live spectators were chosen from the 3,205,750 million fans who registered. All viewers needed to be on level 30 and above in League for consideration. This may well be the case again this year. 2020 Worlds took numerous esports records in spite of the pandemic, and Riot is looking to set even greater records in 2021.
