This is T1's fourth consecutive Grand Finals appearance at Worlds.
The weekend at the League of Legends (LoL) World Championship 2025 closed with a thrilling clash between back-to-back World Champions 
T1 and the LoL Pro League's (LPL) final hope, 
Top Esports. In the end, it was T1 that took the Grand Finals spot after a dominant 3-0 sweep against Top Esports.
For T1, the road to the Knockout Stage was far from smooth. They opened with a confident victory over 
FlyQuest but faltered soon after, dropping matches against 
CTBC Flying Oyster and 
Gen.GG. Refusing to bow out early, the reigning champions roared back with a dominant 2-0 over 100 Thieves, then followed it up with another clean 2-0 against 
Movistar KOI, a hard-earned finish that secured their place among the final eight.
Despite their shaky Swiss Stage, T1 came alive in the Quarterfinals, where they outlasted LPL powerhouse Anyone’s Legend in a five-game thriller that went to Silver Scrapes, sealing a 3-2 victory to keep their title defence alive.
Top Esports, on the other hand, entered Worlds 2025 as the LPL’s third seed and wasted no time making their mark. They came out swinging with a win over LoL European Championship (LEC) champions 
G2 Esports, then followed up with another victory against the LTA’s third seed, 
100 Thieves.
Their momentum hit a snag mid-Swiss, suffering back-to-back 0-2 losses to 
KT Rolster and Gen.G. With their tournament life on the line, TES rose to the challenge in the fifth round, taking down LPL first seed 
Bilibili Gaming in a tense 2-1 revenge match to punch their ticket to the Knockout Stage. Once there, Top Esports looked unstoppable, dismantling G2 Esports 3-1 in the Quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the first time in five years.
Here's how the matches went
The pace of the first game started off slow, with both teams testing each other in the laning phase as the gold remained dead even. While neither side managed to pull ahead early, T1 quietly took control of most of the neutral objectives through the midgame, with TES constantly looking for openings to catch 
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. However, T1 were quick to rotate multiple members to protect their midlaner.
As TES tried to start Atakhan, a team fight broke out that went in T1’s favour, pushing back TES and picking up a kill. With the advantage, T1 secured Baron and began to push their lead across the map. TES tried to force fights to turn things around, but the South Korean powerhouse consistently answered back, tightening their control and farming up to build a sizeable lead. After a 30-minute slow-burn, T1 broke through TES’s defences and destroyed the Nexus to take the first game of the series.
In the second game, Top Esports came out swinging, playing far more proactively and contesting early game objectives while finding a bit of success through a few key kills. However, T1 quickly identified their target, repeatedly diving onto 
Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo and deleting TES’s main carry before his Corki could make any impact. Every team fight went T1’s way as they continued to run down TES across the map.
Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong played flawlessly on Kai’Sa, surviving almost every gank attempt from TES’s squishier composition and turning fights in T1’s favour. With a massive gold lead secured, T1 easily claimed Baron to tighten their stranglehold and push for the finish. After a relentless 28-minute onslaught and a 25–8 kill lead, T1 demolished TES’s Nexus to take the second game of the series.
In the third game, Top Esports came out swinging, finding more success in the early game with several key picks and funnelling their kills onto jungler Seo “Kanavi”Jin-hyeok. However, a fight in the river quickly turned against them as T1 countered perfectly, turning the skirmish in their favour and taking control of the map.
Multiple team fights broke out across the Rift, with TES managing to pick up a few kills, but T1 consistently came out on top, winning every major clash. As the pressure mounted, TES began to falter, making costly mistakes under T1’s relentless aggression. After a 28-minute battle and a 34–15 kill lead, T1 once again stormed TES’s base and destroyed the Nexus to claim the third game, and with it, the series. The victory also marked T1’s 13th best-of-five win against LPL teams.
With their win, T1 have qualified for their fourth consecutive Grand Finals, in an attempt to find a three-peat, facing first time Grand Finalist and fellow LCK Team KT Rolster in the Grand Finals.
Meanwhile, Top Esports bow out of the competition in 3rd to 4th place, taking home US$400,000 in consolation.
