South Korea is the forefather of esports and thus the LCK is also the oldest of all current regional leagues by Riot Games. The first split took place in 2012. In this post you will find a list of all LCK winners.

Cover Image: Riot Games

List of all Winners of the LCK

Split 1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place
2024 Summer Split Hanwha Life Gen.G T1
2024 Spring Split Gen.G T1 Hanwha Life
2023 Summer Split Gen.G T1 KT Rolster
2023 Spring Split Gen.G T1 KT Rolster
2022 Summer Split Gen.G T1 Liiv SANDBOX
2022 Spring Split T1 Gen.G DWG KIA
2021 Summer Split DWG KIA T1 Gen.G
2021 Spring Split DWG KIA Gen.G Hanwha Life Esports
2020 Summer Split Damwon Gaming DRX Gen.G
2020 Spring Split T1 Gen.G DragonX
2019 Summer Split SK Telecom T1 Griffin Damwon Gaming
2019 Spring Split SK Telecom T1 Griffin Kingzone DragonX
2018 Summer Split KT Rolster Griffin Afreeca Freecs
2018 Spring Split Kingzone DragonX Afreeca Freecs KT Rolster
2017 Summer Split Longzhu Gaming SK Telecom T1 KT Rolster
2017 Spring Split SK Telecom T1 KT Rolster Samsung Galaxy
2016 Summer Split ROX Tigers KT Rolster SK Telecom T1
2016 Spring Split SK Telecom T1 ROX Tigers KT Rolster
2015 Summer Split SK Telecom T1 KT Rolster KOO Tigers
2015 Spring Split SK Telecom T1 GE Tigers CJ Entus
2014 Summer Split KT Rolster Arrows Samsung Galaxy Blue Samsung Galaxy White
2014 Spring Split Samsung Galaxy Blue Najin White Shield Samsung Galaxy Ozone
2014 Winter Split SK Telecom T1 K Samsung Galaxy Ozone KT Rolster Bullets
2013 Summer Split SK Telecom T1 2 KT Rolster Bullets MVP Ozone
2013 Spring Split MVP Ozone CJ Entus Blaze SK Telecom T1 2
2013 Winter Split Najin Sword Azubu Frost KT Rolster B
2012 Summer Split Azubu Frost CLG Europe Najin Sword
2012 Spring Split MiG Blaze MiG Frost Xenics Storm

History of the LCK

Known in 2012 as the League of Legends Champions, the LCK started out as the league to watch for years to come. From 2012-2014 there were even three splits per season in this tournament, 16 teams took part.

For the 2015 season, the format has changed significantly: The winter split was removed, and the number of teams was reduced to 10. The LCK is also using a franchising system since 2021, which has eliminated the relegation tournament and the Challengers Korea League since then.

The LCK won all world championship titles between 2013 and 2017. It was only in 2018 that the LPL (China) managed to secure the first Worlds title for the region with Invictus Gaming. This means that the LCK is still the region in LoL Esports.

Tournament Format

Regular Season

The ten teams play a double round robin in best-of-3 format to determine the starting spots for playoffs. The best 6 teams take part in the playoffs, the top 2 teams qualify directly for the semi-finals.

Playoffs

In the playoffs, the top 6 teams play in a best-of-5 format to reach the final.

The finalists of the Spring Split playoffs advance to the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) tournament and the winner of the spring split earns the most championship points.

In the summer split, the playoffs are the same, the winner automatically qualifies for the world championship (worlds), the remaining seeds qualify for worlds based on the most championship points.

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