After several weeks of uncertainty, the Vietnam Championship Series is cancelling its 2021 Summer Split, according to reports from South Korean publication Naver Sports. The reports said that even though the season will not be taking place, the Vietnamese League of Legends region will still be sending representatives to this year’s World Championship.
The 2021 VCS Summer Split was originally delayed in June due to the country’s circumstances around the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if the league returned today, there wouldn’t be enough time for the teams to catch up with the rest of the world’s schedule, since playoffs have begun for many regions across the globe.
According to the translated report, the league “did not receive a license to hold an online competition for summer,” and there were also contractual issues between Vietnam’s League of Legends publisher Garena and Riot Games. As a result, they were unable to come to a solution in time to hold the tournament. It’s been a rough time for VCS fans, who haven’t seen their teams play in an official pro match since the end of the 2021 Spring Split.
The Vietnamese league hasn’t been able to send teams for the last two international tournaments—Worlds 2020 and the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational—due to travel restrictions around the coronavirus. “We explored numerous solutions that would allow the VCS team to compete in Iceland, but we were unable to find a way to make this happen,” Riot’s operations director Tom Martell said in April. This time around, however, the league is determined to send representatives to the event.
The VCS could be sending its 2021 Spring Split champions GAM Esports and the runners-up from that season, the Saigon Buffalo. Another option could be a regional qualifier to decide which teams will represent Vietnam when Worlds rolls around in October.
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