The final four teams of this year's League of Legends Esports World Cup include three South Korean powerhouses and France's own hometown heroes.
The fast-paced action in the League of Legends (LoL) Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 continued in the opening day of the Playoffs on Friday (18 July) as the eight Playoff-qualified teams were cut down to the final four competitors for the title. 
T1, 
Gen.G, 
Karmine Corp (KC), and 
Dplus KIA advanced to the semifinals after they defeated 
Hanwha Life Esports (HLE), 
AG.AL, 
JD Gaming (JDG), and 
Bilibili Gaming (BLG), respectively, in the quarterfinals.
Read on for a breakdown of all of the matches in the LoL EWC 2026 quarterfinals:
T1 take down HLE in grudge match
The most anticipated matchup of the quarterfinals saw T1's veteran core of 
Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee, Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok clash with former teammates Choi “Zeus” Woo-je and Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, who now play under the banner of HLE. But while all eyes were on the grudge match between the legendary ‘Z.O.F.G.K.’ roster, Hyeon-joon “Doran” Choi and Su-hwan “Peyz” Kim stole the show to lead T1 to a 2-0 sweep and a spot in the LoL EWC semifinals.
T1 came out swinging to start the series, winning game one in just under 23 minutes of action behind perfect showings from Peyz on Ezreal and Doran on Renekton. Peyz paced his team's dominant 21-4 kill lead in the series opener with a clean 12 kills and five assists while Doran added five kills and four assists.
Game two was a much closer affair as HLE put up a better fight, but T1 were able to put themselves in a dominant position early on and eventually grind out a 35-minute win to secure the series sweep. While Peyz on Taliyah had a quiet performance in the closeout game compared to his heroics in game one, Doran stepped up to the plate on Jayce. T1's top laner fueled his team's 25-15 kill lead with 10 kills and nine assists on four deaths.
Gen.G sweep JD Gaming to continue title defense
Reigning LoL EWC champions Gen.G came one step closer to defending their title by soundly sweeping JDG, 2-0, and securing a spot in the semifinals.
Both teams looked to be on relatively even footing early into game one, but Gen.G were able to pick up their momentum around the 14-minute mark then continued snowballing until they secured their opening win after 28 minutes. Kim “Kiin” Gi-in on Olaf paced his Gen.G's 17-5 kill lead in game one with six kills and three assists on just one death. Meanwhile, Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu on Jarvan IV and Joo “Duro” Min-Kyu on Shen both notched four kills against one death while combining for 21 assists.
JDG looked like they could force the series to a decider in game two, having steadily built a lead from the early game onwards. However, Gen.G managed to turn the tables by winning a protracted clash over control of Nashor around the 28-minute mark. The defending champions then continued rolling and secured the series sweep after 38 minutes of action. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon showed out on Anivia in game two with seven kills and 12 assists on three deaths.
Hometown heroes Karmine Corp prevail over AG.AL
French squad KC then put on a show at home turf by pulling off a 2-0 upset over Chinese powerhouse AG.AL to become the only team not from South Korea to advance to the LoL EWC semifinals. Bot laner 
Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert notably delighted his home crowd by leading his team in the sweep with an excellent 11/1/4 KDA throughout the series.
The series opened with KC steadily building up their momentum before breaking the game wide open around the 15-minute mark, eventually taking the win after 27 minutes. Caliste showed out on Viktor with seven kills and eight assists on one death to pace KC's 18-11 kill lead. Kang “Kyeahoo” Ye-hoo on Syndra added four kills and seven assists on two deaths while 
Martin “Yike” Sundelin on Naafiri had four kills and nine assists on three deaths.
Game two followed a similar script to game one, with KC gaining momentum around the 15-minute mark then eventually grinding down a stubborn AG.AL defense to secure the series sweep in just under 38 minutes. Caliste on Zeri had a perfect game with four kills and six assists, Chang-dong “Canna” Kim on Rumble pitched in with a clean two kills and four deaths, while Yike on Lee Sin added five kills and four assists against two deaths.
Dplus KIA pull off huge upset over BLG
The quarterfinals then concluded with by far the biggest upset of the tournament as Dplus outlasted BLG in three games behind stellar performances from Jeon “Siwoo” Si-woo, Heo “ShowMaker” Su, and Sin “Smash” Guem-jae.
The series opened with a 39-minute rollercoaster, with Dplus claiming the game one win behind Siwoo's K'Sante and Smash's Kaisa. Siwoo put up five kills and four assists on one death while Smash had five kills and six assists on two deaths.
Game two was another grinder, where BLG pulled off a 34-minute comeback to force the series to a decider. 
Zhuo “Knight” Ding on Twisted Fate led BLG to the win with seven kills and seven assists on one death, while Showmaker on Ryze put up five kills and four assists on one death despite the loss.
Dplus then gave BLG a taste of their own medicine in the deciding game three, as they secured the 2-1 series victory with a 38-minute comeback of their own. Showmaker on Syndra led the way in the closeout game with five kills and seven assists on one death while Siwoo on Aurora added five kills and three assists on three deaths.
What's next in the LoL EWC Playoffs?
The penultimate day of the LoL EWC 2026 will see the grand finalists decided in what could be a pair of heated semifinal showdowns. The first series of the day will see T1 attempt a return to the LoL EWC grand finals as they take on hometown heroes KC, followed by an all-South Korean affair between Gen.G and Dplus.
The final day of the tournament will then kick off with the third place match between the losing teams of the semifinals. The best-of-five grand finals will then follow, where the champions will claim the LoL EWC title as well as the lion's share of US$600,000 out of the tournament's US$2 million prize pool.
