The Worlds 2023 Swiss Stage starts on October 19, and the schedule is already set including the exact Worlds 2023 playing times.
The 2023 League of Legends World Championship is taking place in South Korea, making it difficult to watch live for viewers in the Americas. Depending on the exact time zone, Worlds 2023 might start very late at night or quite early in the morning. Luckily, the start time for the broadcast has already been established, so invested fans can plan ahead in order to watch.
The good news is that while things start at odd hours for viewers in North and South America, fans will likely be able to find some opportunity to take in some matches from the biggest League of Legends competition of the year. Here’s the full schedule and when each match is going to happen.
What time is Worlds 2023?
Worlds 2023 begins October 19 with round one of the Swiss Stage. The first match starts at 12:00 A.M. Central Time and 10:00 P.M. PST, the latter technically being on October 18 due to time zone differences.
Following the Swiss format, teams with three victories each will advance to the Knockout Stage. Teams with three total losses will be eliminated from the tournament. The Swiss Stage is divided into five rounds with qualification and elimination matches beginning in the third round. Under this format, every game counts and the room for adaptation is minimal.
Best-of-one games will be played until teams are facing either advancement to the playoffs, or elimination from the tournament. At that point, teams will fight it out in best-of-three series play.
Round One – October 19
Match | CT | PST | |
T1 vs. Team Liquid | 12:00 A.M. | 10:00 P.M. | |
Cloud9 vs. MAD Lions | 01:00 A.M. | 11:00 P.M. | |
Gen.G vs. GAM Esports | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | |
JD Gaming vs. Team BDS | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | |
G2 Esports vs. Dplus KIA | 04:00 A.M. | 02:00 A.M. | |
NRG vs. Weibo Gaming | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | |
Fnatic vs. LNG Esports | 06:00 A.M. | 04:00 A.M. | |
Bilibili Gaming vs. KT Rolster | 07:00 A.M. | 05:00 A.M. |
All matches in this first round are the best of one.
Round Two – October 20
Team | Team | CT | PST |
TBD | TBD | 12:00 A.M. | 10:00 P.M. |
TBD | TBD | 01:00 A.M. | 11:00 P.M. |
TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. |
TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. |
TBD | TBD | 04:00 A.M. | 02:00 A.M. |
TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. |
TBD | TBD | 06:00 A.M. | 04:00 A.M. |
TBD | TBD | 07:00 A.M. | 05:00 A.M. |
All matches in the second round are also the best of one.
Round 3 – October 21, 22, 23
Third round qualification matches are played to the best of three.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
October 21 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 21 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
Regular matches are still played to the best of one in the third round.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST |
October 22 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. |
October 22 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. |
October 22 | TBD | TBD | 04:00 A.M. | 02:00 A.M. |
October 22 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. |
Elimination matches are also played to the best of three, and begin in the third round.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
October 23 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 23 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
Round 4 – October 26, 27, 28
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
October 26 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 26 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 27 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 27 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 28 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 28 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
Round 5 – October 29
Round 5 represents the last chance to qualify to the Knockout Stage.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
October 28 | TBD | TBD | 11:00 P.M. | 09:00 P.M. | Best of 3 |
October 29 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
October 29 | TBD | TBD | 05:00 A.M. | 03:00 A.M. | Best of 3 |
Quartefinals – November 2, 3, 4, 5
Starting at this point, all series are to the best of five. Despite constant fan requests, Worlds 2023 will still follow a single-elimination bracket in the Knockout Stage, rather than the desired double-elimination format.
In this playoff stage, teams only have one chance to win their series and advance. Any loss means elimination. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played at the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium in Busan.
Unfortunately, the Worlds 2023 viewing times will at this stage become much more difficult to deal with for American viewers across multiple time zones, whether in North America or South America.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
November 2 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
November 3 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
November 4 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
November 5 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
Semifinals – November 11, 12
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
November 11 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
November 12 | TBD | TBD | 03:00 A.M. | 01:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |
Finals – November 19
The finals of 2023 Worlds will take place at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. This is one of the most emblematic venues in the city with a live audience capacity of over 16,000. Despite that impressive size, it is actually the smallest venue for a Worlds finals with a full in-person audience in recent years.
The Worlds 2023 finals time will be 1:00 AM ET, 2:00 AM CT, and 12:00 AM PT.
Date | Team | Team | CT | PST | Format |
November 19 | TBD | TBD | 02:00 A.M. | 12:00 A.M. | Best of 5 |