League of Legends announces 2014 World Final venue, expanded wild card lineup

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League of Legends announced that this year's World Final would take place in South Korea back in November, but the actual venue was kept quiet until now: The impressive Sangam Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, also known as the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

"Bringing the action to so many passionate and dedicated fans requires an awesome venue," Riot Redboard, AKA Dustin Beck of Riot Games, wrote in the venue announcement . "We look forward to welcoming more than ever before in this world-class sports arena."

And impressive it is. Built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sangam Stadium was designed to be the largest football (that'd be soccer) stadium in Asia, with a seating capacity of nearly 67,000 people. It's been the home to the Korea Republic national football team since it opened, and FC Seoul since 2004.

This year will see the debut of League of Legends' new event format, with a 16-team group stage featuring three teams from North America, Europe, Korea and China, plus two from Taiwan and South-East Asia and two wild-card winners. They'll be placed into groups of four to battle it out in group stages in Taipei and Singapore in September, with the top two teams from each advancing to the October quarter-finals in Busan, Korea. The League is also boosting the number of international wild card competitors: Latin America and Brazil will square off at the North American LCS Regional Final, while Oceania, CIS and Turkey will duke it out at the EU Regionals.

The 2014 League of Legends World Final will take place on October 19.

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Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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