Riot Games finally announced the schedule for the 2018 World Championship and as we were told on February this year, the World Championship will be heading back to South Korea. If many of you are like me, I have been eagerly waiting for the exact dates so I can get my plane tickets and hotels booked for the finals. This year, the Worlds event will be ‘All-Korea’ and the host cities will be in the key corners of South Korea.
Play-In Stage: 1st October – 7th October
World’s 2018 kicks off in South Korea’s capital, Seoul where the previous 2014 World Finals left off.
Group Stage and Quarter Finals: 10th October – 21st October
It then moves southeast to Busan for the Group Stage and Quarterfinals to decide the final four teams heading to semifinals. Group Stages will be held on 10th to 17th October while the Quarterfinals will be held on the 20th and 21st of October.
Semifinals: 27th – 28th October
Gwangju is the next stop for the final four teams to duke it out and decide who will be the last two standing, mano-o-mano.
Finals: 3rd November
Finally, the date that most of us are going to be booking, the Finals. The grand stage will be held in Incheon this year and it’s where the victor will hoist the trophy.
Due to the close proximity of the cities, the Worlds event this year will be a little shorter than usual. I am sure the players and the team’s staff can breathe a sigh of relief since this ensures there is minimum jet lag due to shorter travelling time. With less travelling and downtime, the players can be at the top of their game during the Worlds event.
Riot Games have announced that the tickets will be sold globally through Interpark. The ticket sales dates and venues will be announced over the coming weeks.