2025 LoL KeSPA Cup to feature North American squads

The ninth iteration of League of Legends KeSPA Cup is just around the corner, and this year’s event is bigger than ever, as it also features some of the biggest North American squads.

Set to kick off on Saturday, December 6, the 2025 LoL KeSPA Cup will welcome 14 LoL teams.

The list includes seven LoL Champions Korea (LCK) squads, along with Cloud9 and Team Liquid, who carry the torch for the North American region, which makes its tournament debut.

Joining the Korean and two LoL Championship Series (LCS) teams are all-star squads from Vietnam and Japan, making the 2025 KeSPA Cup the biggest and most stacked yet.

• 

  Fast Payouts

Besides expanding the field of teams, this year’s KeSPA Cup is also more attractive to the region’s top talent, as participation is now mandatory for those hoping to qualify for the 2026 Asian Games.

Asian Games are particularly interesting for Korean players, as winning the event can exempt them from the mandatory military service.

However, while this raises the stakes for the KeSPA Cup, there will be some notable absences. That mainly includes Gen.G’s camp, with Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon and Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk both skipping the event, having already won the Asian Games in 2022.

From the viewer’s perspective, the KeSPA Cup 2025 will be the first opportunity to see many of the newly assembled rosters in action.

• 

  The bookies' bookie

The spotlight will be on Hanwha Life Esports, who will debut their new jungler, Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok, and ADC Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung. Meanwhile, Gumayusi’s former team, T1, will debut their new ADC, Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan.

Western fans can look forward to seeing Eain “APA” Stearns wearing Cloud9’s jersey, while Team Liquid will showcase their new top-jungle-mid trio, Park “Morgan” Ru-han, Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas, and Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung.

Most teams will enter the KeSPA Cup in full force, fielding their 2026 rosters. Notable exceptions are KT Rolster and DN Freecs, who opted to field some or the majority-academy players.

This is also reflected in the latest odds, available on the top-rated League of Legends betting sites ahead of Saturday’s games.

KeSPA Cup will run from Saturday, December 6 to Sunday, December 14, and offer a ₩100,000,000 KRW (≃ US$67,871) prize pool.

The champions will take home ₩60,000,000 (≃ US$40,722.41).

KeSPA Cup 2025 Day 1 Fixtures

• Cloud9 ($3.00) vs Gen.G ($1.36) – 15:00 KST

• OkSavingsBank BRION ($2.25) vs DRX ($1.57) – 15:45 KST

• Gen.G ($1.16) vs Vietnam ($4.50) – 16:30 KST

• Hanwha Life Esports ($1.10) vs Cloud9 ($6.50) – 17:15 KST

• BNK FEARX ($1.10) vs Vietnam ($6.50) – 18:00 KST

• DN Freecs ($8.00) vs Dplus KIA ($1.06) – 18:45 KST

• Hanwha Life Esports ($1.25) vs BNK FEARX ($3.75) – 19:30 KST

• KR Rolster ($2.10) vs DN Freecs ($1.66) – 20:15 KST

• Nongshim RedForce ($1.33) vs Team Liquid ($3.25) – 21:00 KST