One of the last world championships for the 2025 esports season, the ALGS: 2026 Championship, is starting tomorrow, i.e., January 15, and fans are excited to catch the action. The crowning event of competitive Apex Legends for the year will bring together the world's best PC battle royale shooter players as they battle for a large prize pool and global glory.
Esports Charts has prepared a primer about this S-Tier Apex Legends tournament, including details on livestreams, participants and the format. Other outlets will also be covering this event live as it happens. One such site is PLEY.gg, an all-in-one destination, especially for Counter-Strike 2, that gives fans the latest news, tournament coverage, expert guides, player profiles, and betting insights in one place.
ALGS: 2026 Championship dates and venue
The ALGS: 2026 Championship will be held at the Daiwa House Premist Dome in Sapporo, Japan, from January 15 to 18. Also known as the Sapporo Dome, this stadium typically hosts football and baseball games, both of which can accommodate around 40,000 spectators.
If 2024's world championship, also held at the same venue, is any indication, over 30,000 in-person fans will be attending Apex Legends' 2025 season finale. The Apex Legends Global Series competition will carry a prize pool of $2 million, the joint-highest in the long esports history of Respawn Entertainment's hero shooter.
Where to watch ALGS: 2026 Championship
Fans will have access to multiple options in terms of platforms and languages to catch the matches live. The official livestreams can be accessed in the links below:
Plenty of content creators will also be community streaming the games. The ALGS: 2024 Championship saw a total of 189 channels cover the action, including prominent names like Chikara "fps_shaka" Kawakami, Charles "moistcr1tikal" White Jr., Junichi Kato and Shibuya HAL.
Tickets for the competition, which will crown the Year 5 ALGS champion, are available here. Prices start from ¥2,226 ($ 14.20) to ¥16,230 ($ 103.50), with discounted student tickets and premium options available. The latter consists of a premium entry with early access to seating and exciting giveaway items.
ALGS: 2026 Championship teams
A total of 40 teams from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia-Pacific (APAC) North and APAC South regions will participate in the 2025 World Championship for Apex Legends. With multiple pathways available across the year to seal their tickets to Japan, here's how the sides made their way onto the biggest stage in the game's esports segment:
- Championship Points – The top 24 teams on the global leaderboard automatically qualify.
- Split 2 Pro League Winners – Each region's first-placed team locks in a guaranteed spot.
- Regional Finals Winners – Victory in the Regional Finals also secures a direct ticket.
- Overlap Rule – If a team has already qualified, the slot passes to the next-highest team on the Championship Points leaderboard.
- Last Chance Qualifiers – Each region’s LCQ sees 40 teams fight for 2 final spots.
ALGS: 2026 Championship format
This season-ending championship for Apex Legends will be held in three phases:
- Group Stage - January 15 to 16
- Bracket Stage - January 17
- Match Point Finals - January 18
In the first phase, all 40 teams will be split into four groups of ten teams each and compete in the round-robin format, i.e., each group plays against the other groups. Each side will play in three Match Series (a total of 18 games) in the Group Stage.
All the participants will advance to the Bracket Stage based on their scores. The top 20 teams of the stage will advance to the Winners Bracket, while the bottom 20 sides will fall into the Losers Bracket - Round 1.
The top 20 teams from the Group Stage will play in one Match Series in the Winners' Bracket. The top ten sides from here will advance to the Finals, while the bottom ten will fall into the Losers Bracket - Round 2.
Similarly, the top 20 teams will play in one Match Series in the Losers Bracket - Round 1, with the top ten advancing to Round 2. The bottom ten sides will be eliminated from the tournament. The 20 remaining Losers Bracket sides will battle it out in Round 2 in one Match Series. The top ten participants will progress to the Finals, while the bottom ten teams will be eliminated from the competition.
ALGS: 2024 Championship viewership
The previous edition continued the steady worldwide growth of the professional Apex Legends scene, with Japan joining the party. The Apex Legends Global Series: 2024 Championship marked a thrilling end to an incredible year of esports action as it attracted a huge crowd of dedicated fans, both at the venue and across livestreaming.
GoNext Esports — a European squad made up of former Blacklist International players — emerged as surprise victors. The team was considered an underdog heading into the tournament, as none of its players had ever achieved results like this in a major event before.
With 540,364 Peak Viewers (PV), the ALGS: 2024 Championship became the third most popular esports event ever held in Japan. When looking at just traditional PC games, this competition ranked second. It drew fewer viewers than past World Championships, but the drop wasn’t huge.
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