Sweden’s Malmo Arena to host 2022 LEC Summer Split finals
The 2022 League of Legends European Championship is only three months away from its Summer Split finale on September 10-11. As the Split is currently in full swing, LEC organizer Riot Games has announced that the tournament’s finals will be held at Malmo Arena in Malmo, a coastal city in southern Sweden.
Riot announced the news on Twitter, confirming that LEC will be making its return to Sweden for the first time since 2015. The occasion also marks the first LEC finals not to be held at the LEC Berlin Studio in three years.
“We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we will be hosting our 2022 Summer Finals in Malmö, Sweden,” Head of League of Legends Esports EMEA, Maximilian Schmidt, said.
“Being the first roadshow we’ve hosted away from our Berlin studio in three years, we can’t wait to give the fans an unforgettable experience. We’re pleased to be working with the City of Malmö again and look forward to bringing the breathtaking atmosphere to their city.”
A breath of fresh air
Alongside the announcement of the final in Malmo, Riot confirmed via its release that tickets for finals will be available for purchase on July 1 and go live during the RDYCHK segment.
The announcement is a breath of fresh air for LOL enthusiasts since LAN tournaments are rolling in this year following heavy pandemic restrictions. For example, during the 2022 LEC Spring Split, both G2 Esports and Rogue were allowed to play for the title with a small crowd in the Berlin Studio.
The positive trend continues in Summer Split, where the live crowd is welcomed to attend and watch all games of the tournament, which would eventually lead to the upcoming finals at Malmo Arena. The arena is capable of holding up to 12,000 sporting fans.
Shortly after Riot’s announcement, setting the finals at Malmo Arena received support from the local government.
“We are incredibly proud to have the League of Legends European Championship in Malmö. This again shows that Malmö is an event and gaming city to be reckoned with,” Head of Events at Department of Leisure, Recreation and Sport at the City of Malmö, Mats Schöld said.
2022 Summer Split recap, road to finals
The Summer Split features 10 teams in a double round-robin format where only six teams will be qualified for the playoffs. The tournament recently finished Week 2 from June 24-26, and the action will shortly resume in Week 3 on July 1-3.
Excel Esports is currently leading the standings on top and followed by G2 in second. Both are the only teams to have posted a stellar 4-1 win-loss record in addition to a whopping 80 percent win rate. Finishing Week 2, Excel is enjoying two consecutive wins, while G2 is looking for their second win in the upcoming week.
Trailing close behind the two are Astralis, Fnatic, Mad Lions, and Rogue. These teams made the same 3-2 record.
The bottom part of the standings is Team Vitality 2-3. The rest are Misfits Gaming, SK Gaming and Team BDS each made 1-4.
However, G2 is leading in Player of the Game Standings, snatching three of the title via mid-laner Rasmus “caPs” Borregaard Winther. Mad Lions mid-laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer also made the same number of title wins, followed by Astralis support Lee “JeongHoon” Jeong-hoon.
