Professional esports leagues in 2025

The esports leagues available in 2024 are usually surrounding the most popular titles. These esports leagues have millions in prize money, feature the best players for each of the professional video games and have millions of people tune into live streams on the internet. There are both online and offline esports leagues worth following, with these competitions providing some of the best entertainment available. Our professional esports leagues in 2024 page will run you through the various esports leagues, give you an overview of upcoming or new esports leagues and provide information about running times, rosters and how to bet on esports leagues.

Esports Leagues overview

The esports industry in 2024 is made up of several professional leagues and tournaments held around the world and the amount of competitions is growing at an exponential rate. Gaming publishers like Blizzard and Valve are hosting massive competitions for their biggest esport hits, while major organizations like Electronic Sports League and Major League Gaming run sell-out events show-casing the best teams across multiple esports. Regional qualifiers and minors organized by smaller groups with official sponsorship or blessings round out the considerably large list of leagues held annually.

Almost all esports competitions are physical events. Players and teams travel to one location to play live in front of an audience and camera, which live-streams the action in real-time to viewers around the world. There is a small number of online-only tournaments, but these usually offer smaller prize-pools or act as qualifiers to the bigger, main event.

It can be hard to keep track of the most relevant esports leagues and tournaments in a time when esports is booming around the world, so this page will be your guide to the biggest events for each popular esports title in 2025.

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Best esports leagues to follow

Official esports leagues and tournaments are presently dominated by a small number of big-name organizers. The Electronic Sports League (ESL) is the largest third-party esports organization in the world, hosting ESL-branded pro leagues and tournaments at national and international levels for the most popular games and up-and-coming titles.

ESL partners with gaming publishers like Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games and Valve Corporation for their competitions, which is the reason for their global prominence and large prize-pools. Major League Gaming is another esports tournament organizer mostly limited to North America. South Korea has a large number of local esports organizers and television networks which run competitions in the region, including KeSPA, OnGameNet and SPOTV Games.

In 2025, more esports leagues are being run directly by the creators and publishers of the esports themselves, with full seasons, play-offs and finals events rather than the typical smaller-scale three-day format of the past. Blizzard runs Overwatch League, the premier league for international Overwatch competition running all-year, while Riot Games and Valve run and host their very own world championships for League of Legends and Dota 2, respectively. There are a number of traditional sporting organizations partnering up with gaming publishers to create entirely new esports leagues.

Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was the first edition of the game in 2013 to have a big esports following and several leagues across the globe. Since then, Counter-Strike 2 was released in 2023 and it has a number of leagues and competitions held around the world sponsored by Valve andorganized by third-party organizers, show-casing the top CS2 talent in the online scene.

• ESL Pro League
  Organized by the Electronic Sports League, CS2 Pro League (also called ESL Pro League) is the premier worldwide league for the game and features two pro league seasons a year. ESL Pro League is scheduled around Valve’s Major tournament system and culminates in multiple offline finals held in Malta every year.
• BLAST Premier Series
  The BLAST Premier series ran its inaugural season in 2020 with its two seasonal events being the Fall and Spring showdowns and finals. BLAST have injected a massive amount of prize money into the Counter-Strike professional scene with millions up for grabs at their multiple events throughout the year.

Dota 2 leagues and tournaments

Dota 2 first released in 2013 and has established numerous professional competitions with the backing and involvement of the game’s developer and publisher, Valve Corporation.

• The International
  The annual World Championship Dota 2 esports tournament run by Valve Corporation since 2011 and officially the largest and highest-paying esports tournament in the world based on audience (400,000 million) and record-breaking prize-pools (US$24 million). The International features 16 of the world’s best teams, both directly invited and qualified, in a double elimination tournament format played best of one, best of three and best of five as the series progresses.

Halo

After having a thriving esports scene in the mid-to-late 2000s, Halo’s competitive circuit has been consolidated into one annual tournament series organized by franchise developer 343 Industries and publisher Microsoft.

• Halo World Championship: The HWC is the largest esports event held for competitive Halo since 2014. Sponsored by current Halo developer 343 Industries, the 2025 season is produced by the Electronic Gaming League and Major League Gaming and features multiple regional qualifiers where teams fight for points and overall standing, culminating in a Championship finals at the end of the year.

League of Legends leagues and tournaments

League of Legends first released in 2009 and has had nearly a decade to establish several leagues across the world, with every single one of them having the official support and sponsorship of LoL’s developer and publisher, Riot Games.

• League of Legends Championship Series (LCS): The NA League of Legends Championship Series is the premier national LoL tournament in North America to earn their way to the World Championships. Each annual season has the top ten teams battle for top standings in seasonal splits to qualify for the play-off series and earn the most championship points to qualify for the LoL World Championships at the end of the year. In 2018, the NA LCS removed mid-year promotion/relegation to use a single league, double round robin Bo1 (Best of 1) tournament format as part of Riot Games’ franchising restructure.



• League of Legends EEMA Championship (LEC): The LEC first started their league in 2015 and they run a very similar tournament structure to the NA LCS as they used to be apart of the same championship. Each annual season has the top ten teams battle for top standings in seasonal splits to qualify for the play-off series and earn the most championship points to qualify for the LoL World Championships at the end of the year.
• League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK): The premier League of Legends esports tournament in South Korea that acts as the road to qualification for the international World Championships. The LCK features 10 of the best LoL teams across seasonal splits and double round-robin basis similar to its EU and NA cousins, but games are played in a Bo3 (Best of 3) tournament format which provide longer matches. LCK is considered to be one of the most competitive regional LoL leagues in the world.
• League of Legends Pro League (LPL): The premier League of Legends esports tournament in China that acts as the road to qualification for the international World Championships.
• League of Legends World Championship: The annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament hosted by Riot Games and the culmination of each season across the game’s multiple national leagues. The best 24 teams from around the world are invited to participate in a double round robin, Bo1 (Best of 1) format and advance their way through numerous stages to make it to the play-offs and eventual finals. The final prize-pool for last year’s Worlds was a whopping US $2,225,000 and is set to be beaten in this year’s event.

Overwatch leagues and tournaments

Overwatch was released in 2016 and has a smaller number of esports leagues and tournaments as a result, but this year arguably introduced one of the most popular new leagues in recent history.

• Overwatch Champions Series: The premier esports league for Overwatch run by Blizzard Entertainment, the creators and publishers of the game. With a division and franchise structure instead of team promotion and relegation, the top teams across North America, South Korea and the United Kingdom play each other twice a week across a regular season (four stages of five weeks) for placement in the championship play-offs and eventual finals. It is one of the most popular new esports league, with millions of viewers tuning into the Twitch.tv coverage every week.

VALORANT leagues and tournaments

VALORANT was first released in 2020, which was the second game produced by Riot Games, who are well-known for producing League of Legends many years ago. VALORANT was first described as a take on Overwatch and Counter-Strike all in one game, as it is a first-person shooter (FPS) and all of the agents have abilities that can be used during play.

• VALORANT Champions Tour: Since VALORANT burst into the esports scene in 2021 with the first VALORANT Champions Tour, esports betting sites have adopted the tournament series and now feature extensive odds and promotions surrounding it. With the VALORANT Champions Tour running for the entire year, bettors are afforded the opportunity to bet on VALORANT all year long.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds leagues and tournaments

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds had its full retail release in late 2017 and it has an official esports league established by its creator. The PUBG Global Series is the newest addition to PUBG esports, with multiple tournaments held throughout the year which leads into the annual PUBG Gloabl Championship at the end of the year.

• PUBG Global Series: A recurring PUBG competitive tournament which has run through six phases by the end of 2024. Players from organisations all over the world will congregate to compete in a week-long event, with every team striving to earn PUBG Global Series Points, which will aid them in qualifying for the season-ending PUBG Global Championship tournament.

Where can I bet on these esports leagues?

There are a small number of highly-rated and licensed esports betting sites which service the international esports community with betting markets on the latest competitions and tournaments, though traditional sportsbooks tend to only take wagers on major events like Overwatch League and The International. If you want to bet on match-ups in your favourite esports leagues, popular or obscure, we’ve compiled a list of our top-ranked options below.

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• Arcanebet: An esports-focused online betting site with numerous markets up for both popular and niche esports leagues, including Dota Pro Circuit, ELEAGUE, League of Legends Championship Series and Overwatch League. Read Arcanebet review.
• BetOnline: A sportsbook focused on providing North American bettors with the best esports betting markets on the most popular tournaments, such as League of Legends World Championships, Overwatch League and The International. BetOnline review.
• Betway: An online bookmaker and active sponsor of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Dreamhack, ESL and many other esports ventures focused on providing European and United Kingdom punters with the most competitive odds on a variety of leagues, including ELEAGUE, EU LCS, FIFA eWorld Cup, Overwatch League and more. Betway esports review.
• Pinnacle: A sportsbook popular with the esports crowd for its early betting markets and low mark up on the odds, where you can wager on niche esports leagues like the Halo World Championships and PUBG Survival Series. Pinnacle esports review.