The Demacia Cup is going international. Jointly hosted by TJ Sports and Huya Inc., the 2026 edition has been upgraded into a Global Invitational, welcoming twelve teams from six major regions — LPL, LCK
Historically an LPL-only offseason tournament, the competition now offers Chinese teams the chance to sharpen their skills against global opposition — and gives fans some high-level League of Legends right before Worlds.
Slot allocation is based on each region's results at MSI 2026. The top two regions receive three slots each, the third and fourth get two, and the remaining regions one. The distribution is as follows:
Invitations go to the highest-ranked teams that have not qualified for the 2026 World Championship. If a team declines, the invite passes to the next eligible one. The CBLOL is the exception to the rule for scheduling reasons: the match that will decide the region's 3rd-place finisher — normally the highest-ranked eligible team — is only scheduled for October 3, the very day the Demacia Cup begins. The 4th place, however, is locked in on September 27, which is why the invitation goes directly to the region's 4th-place team.
As for the LEC's second slot, the LEC rulebook (section 6.3.16) settles who finishes 5th: the two losers of Match 3 and Match 4 of the Split Play-offs are separated by their head-to-head record, with the team holding the advantage taking 5th place and the other dropping to 6th.
The tournament opens with an online Group Stage from October 3 to 8. The twelve teams compete in a six-day Swiss system, with the opening round played in a BO1 (best-of-one) format and drawn randomly — same-region matchups are avoided. Every subsequent round is a BO3, with pairings decided by draw. Eight teams advance.
The Knockout Stage moves to LAN in Beijing from October 12 to 15, with the top eight drawn into a single-elimination BO5 bracket. The Grand Final takes place on October 17.
One special rule stands out: Coach Comms will be enabled throughout the offline stage, including the final. Each team can activate it up to three times per game, for 45 seconds per activation, without pausing the game. Unused activations do not carry over.
Team rosters and broadcast details will be announced at a later date.
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