League of Legends and Valorant events cancelled amid Russia-Ukraine war.
Riot Games has cancelled all its CIS tournaments amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Riot Games’ decision means there will be no CIS teams at Valorant’s VCT EMEA Promotions or League of Legend’s Mid-Season Invitational event.
Riot isn’t the first to take such a call amidst the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Various esports organisers including BLAST and ESL have banned Russian teams or allowed them to compete neutrally and not under the Russian flag.
Most recently, League of Legends’ Russian regional league, the LCL, had been put on an indefinite hold due to the Russian invasion, and Riot Games’ decision now means that the LCL will not be sending any members to the Mid-Season Invitational 2022. Riot Games hasn’t yet announced who will be replacing the LCL representative at the event, though.
A statement was released by GIG.ME, the official tournament organiser, which read:
“After discussions with the licensee, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the League of Legends Continental League Spring Split. In these difficult times for the region, we find it impossible to continue the league. Unfortunately, as a consequence of this decision, the CIS will miss the Mid-season Invitational this year. As soon as the opportunity arises, we will immediately share information about the format of the summer split of the CIS Continental League.”
The recently launched Valorant Regional League CIS will also not be able to send a representative to the VCT EMEA tournament and Riot hasn’t announced what happens to the VCT tournament given that one region won’t be participating.
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