League of Legends World Championship

2014
Tournament information
Location	Taiwan Singapore South Korea
Dates	September 18–October 19
Administrator	Riot Games
Tournament format(s)	16 team round-robin group stage 8 team single-elimination bracket
Venue(s)	5 (in 4 host cities) National Taiwan University Sports Center (Taipei, Group Stage A & B) Singapore EXPO (Singapore, Group Stage C & D) Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (Busan, Quarterfinals) Olympic Gymnastics Arena (Seoul, Semifinals) Seoul World Cup Stadium (Seoul, Finals)
Teams	16
Purse	$2,130,000
Final positions
Champions	Samsung Galaxy White
Runner-up	Star Horn Royal Club
Tournament statistics
Matches played	78
Attendance	40,000+ (final)
MVP	Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong (Samsung Galaxy White)[1]
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The 2014 League of Legends World Championship was an esports tournament held from September 18 to October 19, 2014, for the multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends. It was the fourth iteration of the League of Legends World Championship, an annual international tournament organized by the game's developer, Riot Games. Matches were held in Taipei, Singapore, Busan, and Seoul, with grand finals being at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.^[2] The 16 teams qualified by either winning a major professional league or a regional qualifying tournament. There was a 16 team round-robin group stage followed by an 8 team single elimination bracket. The games were officially streamed on Twitch and Azubu in several languages and the finals were aired online on ESPN3.

The group stage began September 18 in Taipei at the National Taiwan University Sports Center and concluded September 28 in Singapore at the Singapore EXPO with eight teams advancing to the bracket stage.^[3] The bracket stage started on October 3 in Busan, South Korea at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and concluded on October 19 with the grand finals hosted at the 45,000-seats Seoul World Cup Stadium,^[4][5] where South Korean team Samsung Galaxy White beat the Chinese team Star Horn Royal Club to become the 2014 League of Legends world champions.^{[6][citation needed]}

American band Imagine Dragons contributed the theme song "Warriors" for the tournament,^[7] and performed live on the grand finals stage in South Korea.^[8] All games were made available for free via live streaming.^[9]

The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.

Teams

The following teams qualified to participate in the tournament's group stage:^[10]

Region		League		Path	Team	ID	Pool
South Korea		The Champions		Most Circuit Points #1	Samsung Galaxy Blue	SSB	1
				Most Circuit Points #2	Samsung Galaxy White	SSW	2
				Regional Finals Winner	NaJin White Shield	NWS
China		LPL		Regional Finals Winner #1	EDward Gaming	EDG	1
				Regional Finals Winner #2	Star Horn Royal Club	SHR	2
				Regional Finals Winner #3	OMG	OMG
Europe		EU LCS		Summer Champion	Alliance	ALL	1
				Summer Runner-up	Fnatic	FNC	2
				Summer Third-place	SK Gaming	SK	3
North America		NA LCS		Summer Champion	Team SoloMid	TSM	1
				Summer Runner-up	Cloud9	C9	2
				Summer Third-place	LMQ	LMQ	3
TW/HK/MO & SEA		GPL		Summer Champion	Taipei Assassins	TPA	2
				Regional Finals Winner	ahq e-Sports Club	AHQ
Wildcard	Brazil	CBLol	IWCT	CBLol Regional Finals Winner ►IWCT PAX 2014 Winner	KaBuM! e-Sports	KBM	3
	Turkey	TCL		TCL Regional Finals Winner ►IWCT Gamescom 2014 Winner	Dark Passage	DP	3

Venues

Taipei, Singapore, Busan and Seoul were the 4 venues chosen to host the competition.

Taipei, Taiwan	Tampines, Singapore	South Korea
		Busan	Seoul
Group Stage A and B	Group Stage C and D	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
National Taiwan University Sports Center	Singapore EXPO	BEXCO Center	Olympic Gymnastics Arena	Seoul World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 4,200	Capacity: 16,000	Capacity: 4,002	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 66,704
Taipei	Tampines	Busan Seoul

Group stage

The group stage was played in a best of one double round-robin format, with the top two teams from each of the four groups advancing to the knockout stage, for a total of eight teams.

Knockout stage

Source: LoL Esports (Archived 2014-11-05 at the Wayback Machine)

Final standings

Place	Team	Prize money[11]
1st	Samsung Galaxy White	$1,000,000
2nd	Star Horn Royal Club	$250,000
3rd–4th	OMG	$150,000
	Samsung Galaxy Blue
5–8th	Cloud9	$75,000
	EDward Gaming
	NaJin White Shield
	Team SoloMid
9–11th	ahq e-Sports Club	$45,000
	Alliance
	SK Gaming
12–13th	Fnatic	$35,000
	LMQ
14–16th	Dark Passage	$25,000
	KaBuM! e-Sports
	Taipei Assassins

Viewership and attendance

Around 40,000 fans attended the grand finals between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club.^[12] It is estimated that there were 288 million cumulative views throughout the entire tournament.^[13][14][15]

The 2014 World Championship games were streamed live by 40 broadcast partners, and cast in 19 languages. The grand finals were watched by 27 million people, with concurrent viewership peaking at over 11 million viewers.^[13][14]

Racism incident

Prior to the World Championship group stage in Taipei, SK Gaming's Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen acted in a racially insensitive way while playing on the Taiwanese server, being disrespectful towards other players and naming his account "TaipeiChingChong". Johnsen was fined US$2,500 and was suspended from his team's first three games in the tournament.^[16]