Champions Queue Returns for Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage

Riot Games announced Oct. 18 that Champions Queue will return during the Swiss Stage of the 2026 League of Legends World Championship. The queue will let professional players compete against one another outside official matches and team scrims.

Champions Queue will operate every night from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific time during the Swiss Stage, scheduled for Oct. 23-31 in Allen, Texas. The hours are 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern time and 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. UTC the following day.

The system is a private solo queue for professional players and other participants approved by Riot. It is designed to create individual practice games against high-level players from different teams while pros prepare for the tournament.

“CHAMPIONS QUEUE IS BACK,” the official LoL Esports account wrote on X. “Nightly from 8-11 PM Pacific through Swiss Stage, Pros will be able to practice against each other in a solo queue environment.”

Fans can watch matches through livestreams hosted by participating players. Riot encouraged viewers to follow professional players who stream their games. Matches may include players who generally face one another only in official competition.

Riot has not announced the date of the first session or confirmed which features will be available for Worlds 2026. Earlier versions included a leaderboard, match history, player statistics, automated matchmaking and communication tools.

Champions Queue launched in North America in February 2022 as a practice option for League Championship Series players, development teams and amateur talent. It was separate from the standard League of Legends solo queue and was not available to the general player base through the game client. Participation was invite-only and managed through a private Discord server.

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