League of Legends Americas Cup 2026 format and schedule revealed

Riot Games has announced the schedule and format for its newly introduced League of Legends Americas Cup.

Taking place from March 4th to 8th in São Paulo, the event will feature two teams from both the LCS and CBLOL competitions that failed to qualify for First Stand.

The 2026 Americas Cup will be held a week before First Stand. According to Riot Games, it is designed to ‘set the tone’ for the early season as well as create direct competition between North and South America.

While the list of participating teams is yet to be decided, here is how organisations will qualify for the event, along with the details on its format.

The inaugural edition of the LoL Americas Cup will feature the second and third-place teams from LCS Lock-In and the CBLOL Cup. 

These squads will be placed into a double-elimination bracket, battling in best-of-three matches in Upper Bracket Round 1 and a best-of-five series for the rest of the tournament.

Teams from the same region will not face each other in the opening games, which are as follows:

Fearless Draft will be used across all series, and fans can check out the match timings below: 

The winner of the 2026 Americas Cup will receive fully funded two-week bootcamp training during the Mid-Season Invitational, taking place in South Korea. Apart from this, other teams that will be getting the same benefit this season include:

If an organisation qualifies for MSI through multiple pathways, the next highest-ranked team will get the bootcamp slot.

The tournament will host a live audience, with its tickets available via EVENTIM’s official website from February 19th at 4 PM GMT. However, fans can also catch the action live on LoL Esports’ Twitch and YouTube channels.