Worlds 2026 quarterfinals guide: who's through, how the draw works, and when to watch

GamerOne Editör Ekibi October 31, 2026

6 min read

The Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage ends on October 31, and the eight-team quarterfinal bracket is set the same night. This guide puts everything in one place: who has qualified, who plays whom in the final round, how the draw works and when each knockout series starts. Results and times follow the official schedule and match reports as of the evening of October 31; we will add the quarterfinal pairings here once the draw is done.

The five teams already through

In the Swiss format, three wins sends a team to the quarterfinals and three losses sends it home. Five teams had their spot before October 31:

Gen.G (LCK), 3-0: beat Invictus Gaming, Hanwha Life Esports and LYON.
Dplus KIA (LCK), 3-0: beat G2 Esports, T1 and Movistar KOI.
T1 (LCK), 3-1: lost to DK in round two, then beat CTBC Flying Oyster and swept Movistar KOI 2-0 on October 28.
Invictus Gaming (LPL), 3-1: lost to Gen.G in round one, then won three straight series, finishing with a 2-1 win over LYON on October 28. It is IG's first Worlds knockout stage in seven years.
Top Esports (LPL), 3-1: qualified by beating Bilibili Gaming 2-1 on October 29.

Team Secret Whales, Anyone's Legend, CTBC Flying Oyster, Team Liquid and G2 Esports are out.

Final Swiss round: three spots left (October 31)

Six teams sit at 2-2 and play three best-of-three series. Winners qualify at 3-2, losers are eliminated.

Movistar KOI vs Karmine Corp: 17:00 UTC. An all-LEC series, so the LEC sends exactly one team to the quarterfinals.
LOS vs LYON: 20:00 UTC. The winner gives either the CBLOL or the LCS a quarterfinalist.
Hanwha Life Esports vs Bilibili Gaming: 23:00 UTC. This one decides whether the LCK has four quarterfinalists or the LPL has three.

Best-of-three start times are when a series begins, so a long first series pushes the next one back.

How the quarterfinal draw works

The draw is held right after the last series, and it follows one rule:

The two 3-0 teams (Gen.G and Dplus KIA) go to opposite halves of the bracket and each faces one of the 3-2 teams.
The other four teams, meaning T1, IG and TES at 3-1 plus the last 3-2 team, are drawn randomly into the remaining two quarterfinals.

That is the real reward for going 3-0: an opponent that had to play two extra series to get there. It also means T1, IG and TES could be drawn against each other, which will be the big talking point on draw night.

Knockout schedule

The quarterfinals run November 3 to 6 at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. There is one series per day, all best-of-five, starting at 16:00 local time (22:00 UTC):

Quarterfinal 1: November 3, 22:00 UTC
Quarterfinal 2: November 4, 22:00 UTC
Quarterfinal 3: November 5, 22:00 UTC
Quarterfinal 4: November 6, 22:00 UTC
Semifinals: November 7 and 8, also in Allen and best-of-five
Final: November 14 at Barclays Center in New York

If you are in Europe or Asia, these series land late at night or early in the morning. VODs and highlight videos go up shortly after, so pick the series you want to watch once the draw is out.

Three storylines from the Swiss Stage

T1's recovery. After losing to DK, T1 won two series without dropping a game. Game 1 against Movistar KOI ran close to 40 minutes and ended 20-10 in kills; Doran's Ambessa catching the AD carry in a dragon fight swung it. Game 2 was over in 25 minutes, and Keria's mid-lane roam on Karma set up first blood.

IG's return. IG, with TheShy and Rookie, took Game 1 against LYON in 28 minutes, lost Game 2 after falling about 10,000 gold behind, then closed Game 3 in 23 minutes. The series is a good case study in how a team with a lead should close out a game.

The LPL civil war. TES beating BLG 2-1 sent BLG into the final round, where it now faces HLE in the series that decides the regional balance of the quarterfinals.

What you can take from Worlds into ranked

Worlds is played on patch 26.20, while ranked has been on 26.21 since October 21. We cover the differences in our Worlds patch and ranked article. So copying every pro pick as-is is not the right move. Three habits transfer directly, though:

Dragon setup. Pro teams push their lanes and ward the river 30 to 45 seconds before a dragon spawns. In solo queue, one player pinging the timer and moving early already changes most fights.
Closing with a lead. Game 2 of IG vs LYON shows how a team with an advantage throws when it plays scattered. When you are ahead, take Baron or a tower with one plan and all five players together.
Roam timing. Keria's first blood came from shoving the wave and moving mid before the enemy noticed. As a support, a 15 to 20 second window after a pushed wave is all you need.

Use these lessons in your own games

Watching a pro series gives you ideas; reviewing your own games is where improvement actually happens. GamerOne's AI Coach is built for that. Before a match it tells you what to expect from your champion select and lane matchup. After the match it looks at your deaths, CS and objective control and gives you two or three concrete things to try next game. It does not step in while you play; every decision stays yours.

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Sources

Riot Games, official Worlds 2026 schedule and Swiss Stage results (lolesports.com)
2026 League of Legends World Championship, Wikipedia (schedule and draw rule)
Match reports from Strafe and GosuGamers, October 28 to 30

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