Yesterday, the final team from Europe’s LEC locked in its spot at the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, as Fnatic clinched the league’s fourth berth at Worlds. This season marks the Fnatic’s sixth consecutive trip to the World Championship. And for the LEC as a whole, Fnatic’s clinching is noteworthy in that it confirmed that the same European teams would be headed to Worlds for the third consecutive season.
Across the last three editions of Worlds, the same four teams have represented Europe at the tournament: Fnatic, G2 Esports, Rogue, and MAD Lions. That same crop of squads will attend the tournament this year, although the order in which they are seeded has not yet been determined.
Related: All teams qualified for the 2022 League of Legends World Championship
The same four teams went to Worlds in 2020, with three of the four attending the tournament in 2021, as the LEC only had three Worlds berths last season. G2 missed the tournament last year, while MAD, Rogue, and Fnatic attended.
To find a team beyond these four that attended Worlds on behalf of Europe, you’d have to date back to 2019, when Splyce attended the tournament in their final season in the league alongside G2 and Fnatic.
G2 and Fnatic have been two of the most stalwart teams in the region, as one of those teams has attended the World Championship each season since 2012.
Related: G2 locks in a spot at the LEC Summer Split Grand Final after knocking down Rogue
This season, the LEC will be one of three major regions to have four teams at the tournament. China’s LPL and Korea’s LCK will also have four representatives, while the North American LCS will only send three.
In 2020, the LEC received a performance-based fourth seed at Worlds because of G2’s title run at the Mid-Season Invitational and World finals appearance the previous season. This year, the region received a fourth seed as compensation because the LCL, a minor region league hosted in the Commonwealth of Independent States, will not send a team to Worlds due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The 2022 League World Championship will begin on Sept. 29 with the tournament’s play-in stage. One of the LEC’s four already-determined representatives will be present at the play-ins.
