Dplus KIA sweeps EWC 2026 LoL final; viewership jumps

Dplus KIA swept Karmine Corp 3-0 to win the Esports World Cup 2026 League of Legends title, ending a five-year title drought and claiming the club’s first tier-S championship.

Karmine Corp reached the grand final after defeating Anyone’s Legend and then eliminating T1. The European organization set an all-time peak viewers record for the club and drove a rise in French-language viewership.

Average concurrent viewership rose 33.5%, peak viewers increased 22.2%, and total hours watched grew by about 30%. The tournament ran fewer broadcast hours than the 2025 edition.

More than 200 channels co-streamed or broadcast the matches, a roughly 60% increase from the prior year. Traffic increased on Twitch, YouTube and Naver’s CHZZK. Streams in Korean and English exceeded their 2025 benchmarks.

Several pre-tournament favorites were eliminated earlier than expected, producing multiple upsets across the bracket.

By peak viewers, the League of Legends competition was the most-watched completed event at EWC 2026 to date.