The KeSPA Cup 2025, an off-season Korean League of Legends tournament organised by Korea’s esports governing body (KeSPA), will feature two LCS teams for the first time ever.
North American organisations Team Liquid and Cloud9 will join the competition, which is set to take place from December 6th to December 14th.
On top of Team Liquid and Cloud9, the KeSPA Cup features all 10 teams from the LCK, as well as two all-star rosters from Japan and Vietnam. The four teams will be competing for its 100m KRW (~£51,900) prize pool, which has increased by 20m compared to its 2024 edition.
Notably, the event will be broadcast exclusively on Disney+ and is sponsored by peripheral brand Logitech G. Regarding the broadcast exclusivity, the release did not state if it is for global broadcasts or just in Korea.
The 2025 KeSPA Cup’s Revamped Format
With two additional teams, the 14 teams will be split into three different groups, each playing single-game round-robin matches. All matches will be best-of-one.
The first-place team from each group will advance directly to the semifinals, while the second-place teams will be placed in the Breakout Stage. Those teams will play a best-of-three series in a round robin to determine which organisation advances to the Knockout stage.
The top four will be placed in a double-elimination bracket with a best-of-three series in the first two rounds and a best-of-five in the grand final. The Group and Breakout stage will be held online from December 6th to December 9th, with the Knockout stage going offline at the Sangam Forest Colosseum from December 11th to December 14th.
Team Liquid and Cloud9 To Test Out New Rosters
Even though Team Liquid and Cloud9 have yet to unveil their respective rosters for the 2026 campaign, both teams have made changes to their lineups in the offseason.
Korean mid laner Lee ‘Loki’ Sang-min has parted ways with C9 due to personal reasons, and Team Liquid has bid farewell to both Eain ‘APA’ Stearns and Jeong ‘Impact’ Eon-young. As has been the case in previous KeSPA cups, however, teams might field weakened rosters given that the tournament takes place during the free agency transfer period.
Following the official announcement by KeSPA, Cloud9 General Manager David Han made a post on X explaining how both organisations ended up joining the competition.
“Last year, I was watching the KeSPA Cup and thought, ‘wow, it would be so cool if we could attend and give our fans something to watch during the offseason,” he said.
“Historically, Western teams could never secure an invitation or navigate the logistics, but I wanted to see if we could change that. I wasn’t even sure until last month that we would be able to attend, but thankfully… we are in!”
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