Not even 24 hours after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup, League of Legends fans are back to theorizing what a professional League World Cup would look like. And earlier today, G2 Esports mid laner Caps spoke about the possibility of an international League tournament where nations would field their own teams.
Speaking on a livestream with fellow Danish League player Sondergaard, Caps talked about how one day, he hopes to compete in a League World Cup, according to a machine translation.
Although international competition is a major part of what makes pro League so exciting, matches between “national teams” rarely take place. They have a much stronger foothold in Asian countries, in particular. This past Spring Split, VCS champions GAM Esports elected not to represent their region at the Mid-Season Invitational and instead competed in the Southeast Asia Games as Vietnam’s national team.
Caps’ home country of Denmark has a particularly strong history in professional League. The nation has given birth to some of the game’s greatest talents, including Fnatic top laner Wunder and former Team Liquid jungler Santorin. Denmark is quite strong in the mid lane, too. Apart from Caps, longtime Cloud9 star Jensen and newly-minted 100 Thieves centerpiece Bjergsen both hail from the country.
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Caps specifically mentioned how he’d like to play mid lane against Team Sweden in a potential League World Cup. That team would likely feature veteran players such as Fnatic ADC Rekkles, SK Gaming support Treatz, and KOI mid laner Larssen—a player who Caps has developed a strong individual rivalry with over the last few seasons in the LEC.
The idea of a “League World Cup” is nothing new for fans of the game, especially considering how many countries and nations are present at each year’s World Championship. At this year’s tournament, players from 25 countries were represented, according to League data site Leaguepedia. Among those 25 nations, Korea and China led the way at the year’s premier international event with 38 and 20 individual players present, respectively.
Riot Games will waste no time giving fans another international event in 2023, with the newly-created “Season Kickoff” taking place on Jan. 10. The LEC season will begin just over a week later on Jan. 21.
