Mentioned in this article
League/Tournament Brands:
- The European Masters competition will return in 2020, moving to an online-only format in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
- Riot Games’ team for the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) will take over production from ESL.
- The EU Masters showcases the best teams and future talent from the second-tier European Regional Leagues (ERLs) system.
The European Masters, the continent’s biggest League of Legends competition next to the LEC, will continue on in 2020. The Spring edition of the event will be played entirely online, due to the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and will begin April 6. Unlike the last two years, which were run by production partner ESL, the competition will now be managed in-house by Riot Games, with the same team responsible for the LEC.
Somewhat analogous to the UEFA Champions League in soccer, the EU Masters features the best performing teams from the ERLs (European Regional Leagues), and showcases the next generation of star players who might eventually move on to the LEC. There are currently 22 players in the LEC that began their careers in ERLs, with Germany, Spain, and France providing the most rookies in the 2020 season. You can read our guide to the European League of Legends system here.
The EU Masters competition this year will also function more like a league than previous tournaments, with a double round robin format for both the play-in and group stages. The Spring season winners for The DACH Prime league, Spanish Superliga Orange, La Ligue Française, UKLC, Balkan, Italian, Nordic, and Polish leagues all qualify directly to the group stage, while first, second, and third seed teams will qualify for the group or play-in stage, depending on region.
