The League of Legends Esports World Cup 2026 (LoL EWC) will reach its conclusion this weekend with a fairly surprising top four.
LEC team Karmine Corp were the only Western team to reach the Knockout Stages, and they have somehow survived with an unexpected 2-1 win over AG.AL.
In another surpirse sweep, T1 defeated MSI champions Hanwha Life Esports 2-0 in a very impressive series.
And in a spectacular comeback and another large upset, DPlus Kia defeated Bilibili Gaming 2-1 in a monumental win.
A Flurry of Surprise Results
Heading into the tournament, First Stand champions BLG and recent MSI champions HLE were the LoL EWC favourites on Polymarket.
Yet, both have been eliminated from the $2 million tournament, with the race for the trophy suddenly wide open.
HLE were left shellshocked as reigning LoL World Champions T1 stepped up and put in a phenomenal performance.
And DPlus Kia’s players fought tooth and nail versus BLG, perhaps because DPlus Kia could be sold as the players are owed a month’s wages.
DPlus somehow held on despite being over 6k gold down for ages to make a remarkable comeback in a nervy game three.
Reigning EWC champions Gen.G have struggled this year, yet the LCK team has not yet dropped a single game at EWC after defeating JD Gaming 2-0.
And after the early exits of G2 Esports and Movistar KOI, not much was expected for KCorp at this event.
Yet, in front of their own fans in Paris, KCorp dominated AG.AL and defeated them in two very clean wins.
LoL EWC Semi-Final Match-ups and Schedule
The LoL EWC semi-finals will now see T1 take on KCorp and an all-LCK match-up between Gen.G and DPlus Kia.
The schedule for the remaining LoL EWC matches is:
- Saturday, July 18
- T1 vs KCorp – 1 PM CEST
- Gen.G vs DPlus Kia – 3:30 PM CEST
- Sunday, July 19
- Third place playoff – 12 PM CEST
- Grand Final – 2:30 PM CEST
T1 will be heavy favourites heading into their match, though they lost to a European team recently, and KCorp will have the home crowd advantage.
Meanwhile, DPlus Kia have shown such great resilience that it’s hard to call how Gen.G will deal with them.
But Gen.G has won both previous iterations of LoL EWC, so it’s hard to doubt the star-studded roster.
All four teams are guaranteed at least $140,000, though the eventual champion will win $600k.
Who will win the LoL EWC 2026 title? Share your predictions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Riot Games has confirmed that Classic Skins will be free and the default option in League of Legends Classic. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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