The Northern League of Legends Championship (NLC) is a LoL esports competition for teams hailing from the Nordic region, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The joint-venture between Riot Games and DreamHack is slated to launch in June 2020 and is guaranteed to run for at least three seasons.

Northern LOL Championship

The NLC will operate parallel to the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) and will play a crucial role in the European Regional League (ERL) circuit, meaning it will connect to the European Masters competition. Billed as the biggest League of Legends competition in the region, it marks a massive overhaul in the Scandinavian esports scene.

Northern League of Legends Championship betting sites

Once it launches in earnest, esports betting sites everywhere will run a wide array of wagering markets for the Northern League of Legends Championship. You only need to glance at the range of bets on offer for the LEC and other major events to see just how big the LoL betting scene already is. The online bookmakers below are all licensed and regulated operators that will have your NLC betting needs covered.

United States Featured casinos

Featured casinos

#1 BetOnline

Fast Payouts

BetOnline

50% matched deposit up to USD $5,000
Available to residents of United States
Visit BetOnline BetOnline Review
#2 Bovada

Live Betting Odds

Bovada

Claim a 50% deposit bonus up to the value of USD $250
Available to residents of United States
Visit Bovada Bovada Review

Northern League of Legends Championship format

The Northern LoL Championship will serve as the top tier of a larger ecosystem that includes five national leagues: the four Telia Esports Series for Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and the UKLC for British and Irish LoL teams. Each of those leagues will feature eight teams competing for two places in the Telia Masters League. Those 10 teams will duke it out for a chance to play in the NLC Relegation Series, where the top two teams from the Telia Masters and the bottom two teams from the Northern LoL Championship will play off for the right to feature in the following season of the NLC.

NLC teams and league format

The inaugural 12 teams of the Northern LoL Championship are ENCE, Nordavind, Team Singularity, GODSENT, Tricked Esports, Dusty, Barrage Esports, MnM Gaming, Munster Rugby Gaming, Riddle Esports, BT Excel and Fnatic Rising. That list includes three teams from the UK (Barrage, BT, MnM), two each from Denmark (Singularity, Tricked), Norway (Riddle, Singularity) and Sweden (GODSENT, Fnatic), and one each from Finland (ENCE), Iceland (Dusty) and Ireland (Munster Rugby).

The 12 teams will be divided into two divisions, where they will compete in double best-of-one (Bo1) round-robin games across seven competitive weeks per split. Top four teams from each division will be seeded into a double-elimination bracket, with the top two teams advancing straight to the upper bracket and the third and fourth teams playing through the lower bracket.

SEE ALSO:

While the fifth-placed team in each division will miss the playoffs, they are guaranteed a spot in the next split of NLC. The last-placed teams, however, will have to fight for survival in the NLC Relegation Series against the top two teams from the Telia Masters.

The NLC playoffs will feature a best-of-three (Bo3) format and are scheduled to take place in August at DreamHack Summer in J?nk?ping, Sweden, where the top two teams will compete for the lion’s share of 1 million Swedish krona (~￡80,000/€92,000) and the title of NLC champions.

2020 NLC dates and schedule

The Northern League of Legends Championship will be split into six competitive weeks plus the playoffs, live finals and relegation battle. Week 1 is scheduled to commence on Tuesday, June 16. The regular season will run up until Thursday, July 23, with the NLC playoffs set to kick off on Tuesday, July 28. The live finals at DreamHack Summer are scheduled for August 8-9. The season will end on Sunday, August 23 with the final match of the NLC Relegation Series.

Northern LOL Championship Fixture

Week 1: June 16-18
Week 2: June 23-25
Week 3: June 30 – July 1
Week 4: July 7-8
Week 5: July 14-15
Week 6: July 21-23
Playoffs: July 28-30
Live Finals: August 8-9
Relegation Series: August 22-23