League of Legends esports has been ongoing for over a decade, with the first world championship taking place in 2011. In that time, multiple teams have made a major impact on the esports scene. Whether its winning titles, bridging a gap or attracting millions of viewers, there are a range of iconic teams from different regions making our most important LoL teams list.
The likes of T1 have won the most world championship of any team within League of Legends esports. In turn, teams like Dplus are renowned for knocking T1 out of the 2021 world championships. We’ve rounded up all of the most important LoL teams in history, even if some of them no longer exist.
T1, previously known as SK Telecom T1, is one of the most important League of Legends teams in the world. Holding five world championship titles, T1 is the most successful team to have ever entered the LoL esports scene. Headed up by mid-laner Faker, one of the most recognizable names in esports history, T1 is an absolute powerhouse of a team in terms of skill and prowess.
Winning Worlds in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2023 and then again in 2024, T1 hold the most World Championship titles of any other team. Their current roster consists of core players, including Faker, Oner, Gumayusi, and Keria, as well as new top lane recruit Doran, who joined in late 2024.
Despite Fnatic winning the first ever League of Legends World Championships back in 2011, G2 Esports are the true European kings after joining the LEC back in 2016. They now have a total of 14 LEC wins, double that of Fnatic.
However, what really sets G2 apart from other European teams is their level of success in international tournaments, with their most notorious performance coming in 2019. G2 beat out Team Liquid at MSI 2019 in the fastest international best of five ever, essentially bridging the gap between Eastern and Western teams.
They then went onto compete in the World Championship finals on home soil the same year, but unfortunately lost 3-0 to FunPlus Phoenix. The roster at the time consisted of Wunder, Jankos, Caps, Perkz, and Mikyx – an iconic lineup. The current G2 roster is BrokenBlade, SkewMond, Hans Sama, Labrov, as well as Caps, who is still in the lineup.
Despite not having the most titles in the North American LCS, Cloud9 has consistently been NA’s last hope at an international title at Worlds numerous times. While NA has typically struggled at international events, C9 have reached the quarter-finals on five different occasions as well as the semi-finals back in 2018.
Unfortunately, despite consistently performing, Cloud9 have never won a World Championship. The current Cloud9 roster consists of Thanatos, Blaber, Loki, Zven and Vulcan. However, historically, two of the most prominent players associated with the Cloud9 brand were Sneaky and Jensen, who have both since departed.
Samsung are the only team other than T1 to have taken home multiple World championship titles. Previously referred to as Samsung White and Samsung Galaxy, this LCK team won World Championship titles in 2013 and 2017.
After combining Samsung White and Samsung Blue to form Samsung Galaxy, also known as SSG, the team came very close to stopping T1’s back-to-back wins in 2016. Putting up a tough fight, they lost 3-2. The following year, they came back and absolutely annihilated T1 in a 3-0 rampage, handing Faker his first-ever World’s defeat at the time.
After the 2017 World Finals, Samsung Galaxy’s roster and LCK spot were obtained by KSV esports and are now called GenG. However, the original owners at Samsung never made any announcements about the team retaining or transferring titles, so whether or not the org still counts as two-time World Championship winners is up for discussion.
Second only to the LCK, the LPL is one of the strongest regions in the world when it comes to League of Legends esports. The dominating team in this region has always been EDG, with six LPL titles and no other org matching this.
However, despite their domestic success, EDG has famously struggled in international play. They have been destroyed in Worlds quarter finals on four different instances and then in 2017, didn’t even make it out of group stage.
After years of international upset, the kings of the LPL finally secured a World Championship title in 2021, winning 3-2 against Dplus Kia, despite not being favored. The roster currently consists of Zdz, Xiaohao, Angle, Ahn, and Wink, but the most notorious player was Meiko, who played support for EDG for over nine years.
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One of the most viewed League of Legends esports games of all time is T1 vs Dplus at the 2021 World Championships, where the teams faced off in the semifinals. Going up against one of the most successful teams of all time, Dplus was against the odds but managed to deliver a major upset to T1, beating them and knocking them out of the tournament.
They went on to the grand finals, where they lost to EDG. However, Dplus were the most watched team of the entire tournament, with all eyes on the team after they dethroned T1. The current lineup consists of Siwoo, Lucid, Showmaker, Aiming, and BeryL.
One of the most iconic NA based teams is TSM, standing for Team Solo Mid. Despite the org no longer existing, while competing they performed pretty consistently, with seven LCS titles. With players Bjergsen and Doublelift, the absolutely powerhouse of a roster won back to back LCS titles but seemed to falter when coming to international player.
Later on, the organisation notoriously rid itself of AD Carry Doublelift, with him finding out at the same time as the public, live on stream. He went on to play for Team Liquid who dominated the region for multiple years.
The last roster of TSM before disbanding consisted of BrokenBlade, Spica, Bjergsen, Biofrost, Treats and Doublelift, who rejoined the team for a short while.
