League of Legends Japan League
Game | League of Legends |
---|---|
First season | 2014 |
Owner(s) | Riot Games Japan Playbrain |
Motto | "Reforge as One" |
No. of teams | 12–16 (regular season) 6 (LJL Finals) |
Countries | Japan |
Most recent champion(s) | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Gaming (2nd title) |
Most titles | DetonatioN FocusMe (16 titles) |
Qualification | Franchise partnership(2019–2024)[1] Open qualifiers (2025–present) |
TV partner(s) | Twitch |
Promotion to | League of Legends Championship Pacific (2025–present) |
Official website | jp |
The League of Legends Japan League (LJL) is the top level of professional League of Legends competition in Japan.[2][3][4] The league franchised prior to start of the 2019 season and has eight teams under partnership.[1] Each annual season of play is divided into two splits, spring and summer, both consisting of ten rounds of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with playoff tournaments between the top three teams.
Before 2024, the spring and summer champions qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship respectively.[5] However, in 2024, the top three teams from each LJL split were seeded into the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) playoffs and competed with other PCS teams for a chance to represent the larger region at international events; LJL teams would no longer qualify directly to MSI and Worlds. Since 2025, the LJL is a second division to the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), with the winning team in the LJL Finals having the chance to be promoted to the new Asia-Pacific League.
Format
[edit]Regular Season
[edit]Forge
[edit]- Up to sixty-four teams participate in open qualifiers
- Top sixteen teams from open qualifiers participate in a Swiss stage
- The best eight teams advance to the playoffs
Storm
[edit]- Up to sixty-four teams participate in open qualifiers
- Top twelve teams from open qualifiers participate in a "Storm Swiss" stage
- The best six teams advance to the playoffs
Ignite
[edit]- Up to sixty-four teams participate in open qualifiers
- Top twelve teams from open qualifiers participate in a "Bounty" stage
- The best six teams advance to the playoffs
LJL Finals
[edit]- The top six teams in championship points, earned from the regular season, participate in the LJL Finals
- Winner qualifies for the League of Legends Championship Pacific Promotion Playoffs and has a chance of entering the LCP as a guest team.
Teams
[edit]Notable
[edit]As of 2025 season:
Team | ID |
---|---|
AXIZ Crest | AXC |
Burning Core | BC |
Sengoku Gaming | SG |
V3 Esports | V3 |
Former
[edit]- 7th heaven
- DetonatioN RabbitFive[a]
- Okinawan Tigers
- Pentagram[b]
- SCARZ
- Unsold Stuff Gaming
- Rascal Jester
- FENNEL
- AXIZ[c]
- Crest Gaming Act[c]
- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Gaming[d]
- DetonatioN FocusMe[e]
Past seasons
[edit]Year | Split | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Winter | Rascal Jester | Ozone Rampage | Okinawan Tigers |
Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Rascal Jester | Ozone Rampage | |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | Ozone Rampage | Rascal Jester | |
Grand Final | DetonatioN FocusMe | Rascal Jester | ||
2015 | Season 1 | DetonatioN FocusMe | DetonatioN RabbitFive | 7th heaven |
Season 2 | Ozone Rampage | DetonatioN FocusMe | 7th heaven | |
Grand Final | DetonatioN FocusMe | Ozone Rampage | ||
2016 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Rampage | Unsold Stuff Gaming |
Summer | Rampage | DetonatioN FocusMe | 7th heaven | |
2017 | Spring | Rampage | DetonatioN FocusMe | Unsold Stuff Gaming |
Summer | Rampage | DetonatioN FocusMe | 7th heaven | |
2018 | Spring | Pentagram | DetonatioN FocusMe | Unsold Stuff Gaming |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | Unsold Stuff Gaming | PENTAGRAM | |
2019 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Unsold Stuff Gaming | Crest Gaming Act |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | V3 Esports | Crest Gaming Act | |
2020 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | V3 Esports |
Summer | V3 Esports | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | |
2021 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | V3 Esports | Rascal Jester |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | Rascal Jester | AXIZ | |
2022 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | Rascal Jester |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | Fukuoka SHG | |
2023 | Spring | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | FENNEL Fukuoka SHG |
Summer | DetonatioN FocusMe | Fukuoka SHG | Sengoku Gaming | |
2024 | Spring | Fukuoka SHG | DetonatioN FocusMe | V3 Esports |
Summer | Fukuoka SHG | DetonatioN FocusMe | Sengoku Gaming | |
2025 | Forge | |||
Storm | ||||
Ignite | ||||
LJL Finals |
Notes
[edit]- ^ DetonatioN FocusMe's sister team.
- ^ Formerly Rampage,
- ^ a b Merged to AXIZ Crest in December 2023.
- ^ Announced as a partner team in the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) in November 2024.
- ^ Announced as a guest team in the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) in November 2024.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Torres, Xander (25 December 2018). "LJL announces new franchises, schedule, and prize pool for 2019". VPEsports. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- ^ Wong, Joe (18 January 2019). "Riot Games finds two new organising partners for League of Legends Japan League". Esports Insider. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (27 February 2019). "PlayBrain raises $1.9 million for League of Legends esports events in Japan". VentureBeat. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Murray, Trent (27 February 2019). "Japanese Tournament Organizer PlayBrain Raises $1.9M Seed Round Led by BITKRAFT". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Kim, Alice (10 August 2017). "League of Legends – Japan League". Esports.net.