Mentioned in this article Games: League of Legends Teams: SK Gaming

Riot Games and Webedia will co-produce a new professional League of Legends competition in France, to be broadcasted by O’Gaming TV.

The new competition will be closed to eight selected team applicants, and the existing Open Tour will continue as an online amateur competition.

Regional competitions such as these allow teams in the newly rebranded League of Legends European Championship (LEC) to develop new talent.

The Ligue Française de League of Legends (LFL) is the latest regional competition to be announced by Riot Games . This new professional circuit will be a co-production with global media and technology company Webedia , broadcasted on French esports network O’Gaming TV .

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Prospective teams have until Dec. 14 to apply to join the LFL.[/perfectpullquote]

Prospective teams have until Dec. 14 to apply to join the LFL, with eight to be selected on “qualitative and sporting criteria,” according to the announcement. Top performing squads will qualify for the LoL European Masters, a twice-annual tournament presented by ESL . The previous top competition in France, the Open Tour, will transition to an online-only competition for amateur players.

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For its franchise-style LEC, Riot Games opted not to create a tier-two competition like the North America Academy. Instead, long-term partners in the LEC are free to host secondary teams within the European regional system. Cologne-based SK Gaming has and will continue to compete in the LoL Premier Tour in the DACH region, while Team Vitality could conceivably field a second roster in France.

The regional circuit also affords various third-party esports companies in Europe the opportunity to engage in Riot’s ecosystem. Webedia, for example, owns the competition brand Esports World Convention (ESWC), and oversees the management of Paris Saint-Germain’s esports division.