The quarterfinal matchups for the Season 16 World Championship of League of Legends, one of the world’s most popular esports titles, have been set — and the biggest surprise is that LCK side HLE failed to advance and bowed out early. HLE was swept 2-0 by China’s BLG in the final round of the Swiss stage, meaning AD carry Gumayusi (Lee Min-hyeong), who transferred from T1 last year, will not lift the Worlds trophy for a fourth consecutive year.
The Swiss stage reached its final three win-or-go-home matches early Sunday morning (November 1), Taiwan time, with the Korea-China showdown between HLE and BLG drawing the most attention. In game one, HLE gained an advantage during a dragon fight, but late in the game BLG’s Korean players Viper (Park Do-hyeon) and Knight (Zhuo Ding) landed kills on key members, pushed high ground, and completed the comeback to take the opener.
Game two remained tight in the early stages, but after a botched engagement bottom lane, HLE let BLG open up a roughly 4,000 gold lead. BLG then extended its advantage and closed out the win with late-game teamfights, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 2-0 sweep. HLE’s run ended in the Swiss stage — and with it, Gumayusi’s first Worlds campaign since his transfer.
The remaining two quarterfinal spots went to Europe’s KC and North America’s LYON. KC swept fellow LEC team MKOI 2-0, while LYON went the full three games against Brazil’s LOS, stealing a comeback victory in game two thanks to its bot lane duo, then winning two crucial teamfights in the decider to take the series 2-1.
With the Swiss stage complete, the quarterfinal draw was revealed: Faker’s T1 will face KC, BLG takes on Korea’s DK, GEN meets LYON, and TES squares off against IG in an all-Chinese LPL affair. TES and IG being placed in the same half of the bracket means the LPL is guaranteed at least one semifinal berth.
The Worlds 2026 quarterfinals will run from Wednesday (November 4) through Saturday (November 7), Taiwan time, with matches starting at 6 a.m. each day, all played as best-of-five single-elimination series. TES vs. IG kicks things off, followed in order by GEN vs. LYON and DK vs. BLG, with T1 vs. KC closing out the bracket on Saturday.
Worlds 2026 Quarterfinal Schedule (Taiwan time)
TES vs. IG — November 4, 6 a.m.
GEN vs. LYON — November 5, 6 a.m.
DK vs. BLG — November 6, 6 a.m.
T1 vs. KC — November 7, 6 a.m.
Your schedule for the #Worlds2026 Quarterfinals! https://t.co/5aB1JSnbNe
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) November 1, 2026
