 | |
| Game | League of Legends |
|---|---|
| First season | 2014 |
| Owner(s) | Riot Games Japan Playbrain |
| Motto | "Reforge as One" |
| No. of teams | 12–16 (regular season) 6 (LJL Finals) |
| Countries | Japan |
| Most recent champion(s) | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Gaming (2nd title) |
| Most titles | DetonatioN FocusMe (16 titles) |
| Qualification | Franchise partnership(2019–2024)[1] Open qualifiers (2025–present) |
| TV partner(s) | Twitch |
| Promotion to | League of Legends Championship Pacific (2025–present) |
| Official website | jp |
The League of Legends Japan League (LJL) is the top level of professional League of Legends competition in Japan.[2][3][4] The league franchised prior to start of the 2019 season and has eight teams under partnership.[1] Each annual season of play is divided into two splits, spring and summer, both consisting of ten rounds of round-robin tournament play, which then conclude with playoff tournaments between the top three teams.
Before 2024, the spring and summer champions qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship respectively.[5] However, in 2024, the top three teams from each LJL split were seeded into the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) playoffs and competed with other PCS teams for a chance to represent the larger region at international events; LJL teams would no longer qualify directly to MSI and Worlds. Since 2025, the LJL is a second division to the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), with the winning team in the LJL Finals having the chance to be promoted to the new Asia-Pacific League.
- ^ a b Torres, Xander (25 December 2018). "LJL announces new franchises, schedule, and prize pool for 2019". VPEsports. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- ^ Wong, Joe (18 January 2019). "Riot Games finds two new organising partners for League of Legends Japan League". Esports Insider. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (27 February 2019). "PlayBrain raises $1.9 million for League of Legends esports events in Japan". VentureBeat. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Murray, Trent (27 February 2019). "Japanese Tournament Organizer PlayBrain Raises $1.9M Seed Round Led by BITKRAFT". The Esports Observer. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ Kim, Alice (10 August 2017). "League of Legends – Japan League". Esports.net.