After losing its spots at the international LoL tournaments, the LJL will also be downsizing going into 2024.

Image Credit: @Official_LJL

LJL downsizing its participants to 6 LoL teams

The LJL has officially confirmed it will only have 6 teams participating in the LJL 2024 season. According to the announcement, the LJL 2023 participating teams AXIZ and Crest Gaming Act will join together and participate as “AXIZ CREST” in 2024 while FENNEL will disband its team and no longer compete in the Japanese league. FENNEL was one of the new entries in the LJL and leaves the competition only one year after its entrance.

After discussing with the five remaining teams, it was decided to operate with six teams for the upcoming season. Below is the list of the teams that will compete in the LJL:

AXIZ CREST
Burning Core
DetonatioN FocusMe
Sengoku Gaming
Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS gaming
V3 Esports

Repercussions on the LJL ecosystem

This is the second major news coming from the LJL in a week. Last week, Riot confirmed that the LJL would be included in the PCS esports circuit, effectively losing direct access to MSI and Worlds. The decision came to strengthen the League esports ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region, after the addition of the LCO to the PCS last year. Now that the LJL has been downsized, it will at least help the league hold its position in the coming year.

And while lowering the number of teams to six is a big loss, there are some positive takeaways. The main one is the higher chances for LJL teams to qualify for playoffs, considering that the top 3 teams of each split will compete in the PCS playoffs. In other words, 50% of the Japanese league will have a chance to playoffs and lock themselves a spot at the international tournaments. It won’t be an easy feat, considering the PCS’ overall competition, but it can be a great opportunity for teams to improve with cross-regional matches.

Read more: LEC 2024 competitive season – changes to schedule and format