LEC 2025 Winter Split: Schedule, Format, and Opening Matchups
It's been more than three months since the last LEC game of 2024 was played, and we're all starting to feel a little hungry for some European League of Legends. Starting January 18th, 2025, however, the LEC returns in full force.
With the LEC schedule already out for the Winter Split of 2025, let's take a look at what we can expect from the first split of the year in terms of format and schedule, as well as the exciting opening matchups.
Meanwhile, excitement continues to build for a new year of competitive League of Legends, as the start of the new season for Major leagues across the world grows ever closer.
LEC 2025 Winter Split: Format and Schedule
To start the year in the LEC, the Winter Split will feature a Regular Season made up of a single round robin, meaning all teams will play each other once. All Regular Season matches will be best-of-ones, with the first round of games being played on Saturday, January 18th.
The Regular Season will feature matchdays on every Saturday, Sunday and Monday across a span of three weeks. Once all games have been played, the top 8 teams will move on to the Winter Split Playoffs.
Here's what the LEC 2025 Winter Split Regular Season schedule will look like.
- Week 1: Saturday, January 18th (Opening Day) - Sunday, January 19th - Monday, January 20th
- Week 2: Saturday, January 25th - Sunday, January 26th - Monday, January 27th
- Week 3: Saturday, February 1st - Sunday, February 2nd - Monday, February 3rd
The 8 teams to make it to the Winter Playoffs will face off in a double elimination bracket that will introduce Fearless Draft to the LEC for the very first time. The winner of the Winter Playoffs will not only lift the first LEC trophy of the year, but also earn their spot at the inaugural edition of First Stand, the game's new international tournament.
To learn more about all format changes coming to the LEC with the new year, visit our full guide on LEC 2025 Format.
The LEC 2025 Winter Playoffs will decide which team represents the region at the new international tournament. (Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games)LEC 2025 Winter Split: Opening Matchups
The schedule for the first week of the LEC 2025 Winter Split is out, and we could not be more excited about all that the opening games of the season have in store for us. To see the complete list of Week 1 matches, visit the LoL Esports website.
If you're curious what all LEC rosters will look like for the start of the Winter Split, check out our LEC 2024-2025 Rostermania.
Team Heretics vs Rogue [Saturday, January 18th - 6 pm CET]
Despite Rogue's turbulent end to the year, the team made a splash by landing Adam during the offseason. Still, even the polarizing French top laner may not be enough to rescue a team that has been so dysfunctional in recent years.
With Team Heretics putting up an interesting mix of proven LEC players and rising stars in their new roster, a comfortable matchup for the first LEC game of 2025 will be great for the Heretics to start building synergy and confidence.
Team Vitality vs Team BDS [Saturday, January 18th - 6:45 pm CET]
Team BDS will have substantially upgraded their roster coming into the 2025 LEC season. Though the previous iteration of the team made up for their lack of star power with creativity and synergy, BDS will now look to utilize their Winter Split games to get all new players acclimatized to the BDS system.
Against a Team Vitality roster that might pose more questions than answers, it will be interesting to see how these two teams approach the draft, as well as which players will be given the responsibility of leading their respective teams to victory.
GiantX vs SK Gaming [Saturday, January 18th - 7:30 pm CET]
Though SK Gaming are expected to retain their South Korean star duo in the bot lane, GiantX has also gone ahead and significantly upgraded their own bot lane by landing the former Fnatic South Korean duo themselves. For the third game of opening day, all eyes will be on how these two bot lanes match up on the rift.
Movistar KOI vs Fnatic [Saturday, January 18th - 8:15 pm CET]
Oh boy... the first ever North American import to the LEC is here to make a splash, and what better way to do so than against one of the most historic teams in Europe.
While we're all curious to see how Mikyx will perform on Fnatic, there is no doubt that Jojopyun vs Humanoid will be the talk of the town on opening day of the Winter Split. Can Jojo live up to the hype, or will the NA memes write themselves?
Karmine Corp vs G2 Esports [Saturday, January 18th - 9 pm CET]
The match we've all been waiting for. After lifting 7 LEC titles with G2, Yike will don the KC jersey to face off against his former teammates for the first time. Meanwhile, Caliste and Hans sama will battle it out in the bot lane with the title of best French ADC on the line.
Karmine Corp vs G2 promises an explosive end to opening day for the Winter Split, and you can bet we're all going to be there for it.
G2 and Karmine Corp should put on a show to close out opening day of the LEC 2025 Winter Split. (Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games)Where to watch the LEC 2025 Winter Split?
With several exciting new storylines coming to the LEC with the new year, make sure you don't miss any of the inaugural action of the LEC 2025 Winter Split by tuning in to the official LEC channels on Twitch or YouTube.
Ready your couch, heat up that popcorn, and join the new LEC season starting Saturday, January 18th, at 6 pm CET.
Follow Strafe Esports for all the latest League news and our X account for the latest content and coverages. Also, stay tuned to Strafe YouTube for exclusive interviews, press conferences, and more.
For more League of Legends rostermania news, check out our LEC, LCK, LPL and LTA North/South rostermanias for all the latest shuffles. To check when your favorite league will kick off again in 2025, check out our schedule here.
Image source: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
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