LEC Winter 2023 starts today!

The competitive League of Legends is rapidly coming out of hibernation. Following Korea and China, Europe enters the fray.

LEC Winter 2023 starts today - the first round of the updated European league MENA. 10 partner teams will play in the fight for money and a trip to MSI.

Format of LEC Winter 2023

In season 13, LEC became part of the revamped MENA region. This entailed changes in the format of holding championships under the auspices of the LEC.

Now 3 splits will be played in a year: Winter, Spring, Summer. Each of them will take place in several stages, and LEC Winter 2023 will open it:

• Season: regular league for 10 teams with more than 1 Round-Robin
• Group stage: eight teams from the regular season divided into 2 groups of 4 teams
• Playoffs: 4 teams from the group stage, the first places go to the winners' bracket, and the second places go to the losers. Matches are played in bo5 format, and the winner goes to MSI 2023.

With the updated format of the event, the list of participants in LEC Winter 2023 has changed minimally. Nominally, there are 2 such teams.

Participants of LEC Winter 2023

Non-replaceable in 2023 is the number of LEC participants. There are still 10 of them.

List of participants of LEC Winter 2023

• Astralis
• excel
• Fnatic
• G2 Esports
• KOI
• M.A.D. Lions
• SK Gaming
• Team BDS
• Team Heretics
• Team Vitality

Heretics and KOI became newcomers. The former bought the slot from Misfits Gaming, while the latter merged with Rogue, thereby gaining their place in the league.

Dates of LEC Winter 2023

Games within LEC Winter will start on January 21 this year. They will play until February 6th.

Matches will be played three days a week: Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 5 matches will be played per day, which means that all teams will play every week.

Prize pool distribution

~$86,000 will be up for grabs at LEC Winter 2023. However, the main reward remains a ticket to the Mid-Season Invitational 2023, Championship points and a slot at the LEC Finals, where places at Worlds 2023 will be up for grabs.

Prize distribution table

• 1st Place - $43,000 + LEC Finals ticket + 120 Championship Points
• 2nd Place - $26,000 + 100 Championship Points
• 3rd Place - $10,000 + 80 Championship Points
• 4th Place - $5,000 + 60 Championship Points
• 5th place - 50 Championship Points
• 6th place - 40 Championship Points
• 7th place - 30 Championship Points
• 8th place - 20 Championship Points
• 9th place - 10 Championship Points
• 10th place - 5 Championship Points

As before, no team will be eliminated from the competition. Regardless of the result, the clubs reserve a place at the LEC Spring 2023.