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Journey
Scroll through the different milestones and explore the journey of League of Legends in the Middle East from its early days back in 2009 until today.
2009
The Beginning
A pixelated Rift beckoned players across the world, as a new dawn began for the MOBA genre with the release of League of Legends on the 27th of October 2009. In the Middle East, a small but confident group of player steps into the scene.
Believe it or not, you could actually get League of Legends on a DVD-ROM in its early days. However, this is now a rare commodity and only those who have playing since S1 may have it in their collection.
2010-2011
The Dark Years
It wasn't the greatest time to be a League of Legends player, as the game was still trying to carve its mark among the bigger game titles that were taking the spotlight in the Middle East region.
There were yet to be any official tournaments for players, so Summoners were reduced to gathering in PC Cafes and meeting on the Rift with their regular group of friends.
2012-2014
A New Battle
It wasn't until 2012 that League of Legends finally started picking up the pace and gaining wider recognition in the region.
The World Cyber Games tournament became the crucible, establishing local competitive scenes in KSA, Egypt and Jordan and giving rise to long-standing legends.
From Cairo's smoky cafes to Casablanca's neon arcades, the game spread like wildfire. Tournaments bloomed across the region – LAN battles in Amman, clashes in Jeddah, and showdowns in Dubai.
2015
The Rise of Legends
Even amidst skepticism and a distinct lack of publishing or infrastructure support, the esports scene flourished in the region in 2015.
Professional teams rose to fame in several countries… Anubis, NASR, CA… they stood as beacons of ambition in a region overlooked, a testament to Middle Eastern talent, entering regional tournaments and securing their first winning titles in the long competitive journey ahead.
Rivalries among established legends began to emerge... Adham vs Wicky, Daghboos vs Fr0m 0 2 Her0, Cipher vs Fear, Mimic vs San, Mishal vs Lee Cos... setting the stage for years of fierce competition to come.
2016 - 2018
An Undying Will
The road was fraught with obstacles - "ping" was high on the list of invisible enemies that plagued every step a League of Legends player took as they climbed the ranks. Yet they persisted, every perfect play and every comeback a defiant roar against the latency.
Veterans like Adham, Cipher, Mimic, OneGankMan and Lee Cos etched their name in halls of code despite the lack of recognition, seizing every opportunity to clash in immortal battles, be it online or on LAN stages.
The fiery determination to make the world recognize them never died.
2018 also marked the rise of the second generation of League of Legends stars such as Giyuu, Ajwad, 9eetoo and Rated. They would soon prove to the wider community that they had the skills to dominate Summoner's Rift.
2019
The Nexus
It was the light at the end of the tunnel, as Riot Games finally announced its arrival in the region, opening its first office in Dubai and gathering a group of passionate gamers determined to make a difference for players in the region.
Players in the region were on a date with an event the likes of which the region had never seen before.
In Riyadh, Nexus Arabia kicked off with a dazzling opening ceremony, musical performances by Jason Derulo and an international cosplay parade, and culminated with an epic battle between NASR and EGZ, in which the latter emerges victorious.
The L10 announcement also sparked a glimmer of hope for the arrival of Arabic support and local servers. And so began the waiting game.
2020
A Renewed Purpose
It soon became evident that the promises of L10 weren't going to be fulfilled anytime soon, much to the chagrin and disappointment of players in the region.
From the embers of this broken promise arose the Intel Arabian Cup, the first official League of Legends grassroots tournament by Riot Games in the MENA region. Teams raced to participate from across all eligible countries, determined to prove the skills they had been honing all those years.
Thirteen national champions made it to the final stage, with Anubis Gaming dethroning the champions of Nexus and taking the title of the first IAC champions.
2020 was also the year in which Majed rose to fame in the MENA scene, taking the title of the first MVP in the Intel Arabian Cup.
2021
A Connected Region
27,000 eyes witnessed IAC’s fiery return in its second year.
With IAC opening the doors for regional teams to form, super teams were established across the region. Knockout Esports from Saudi Arabia won the first split in that year, but disbanded soon after. From its ashes rose the most successful Arab team in IAC history - Geekay Esports.
With a roster of four Saudi legends - Wufo, Ajwad, Mimic and Mishal - and one sole Lebanese legend, Cipher, Geekay Esports dominated Split 2 and were crowned the 2021 Champions.
In the same year, Arcane lit up the skies of Dubai with an epic light show on the tallest structure of the world, as League of Legends took its IP to TV screens and stole the hearts of fans around the region.
Fans in Egypt also got to watch the premier of Arcane at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza for an unforgettable experience.
Meanwhile, in Dubai fans watched the final arc in a themed cinema modeled after Piltover and Zaun.
2022
A Prestigious Legacy
In 2022, Intel Arabian Cup came in with a brand new image, shedding its colors of blue and green for a prestigious look of marble and gold.
In 2022, IAC had three splits, out of which Geekay Esports dominated two, their winning streak cut short by the only team to manage to stop their split run - RAAD esports.
Also in that year, the long standing dream of having the first official LAN became a reality, no longer bound by the constraints of COVID-19 that had prevented any esports gatherings over the past two years, and two finalists - RAAD and Geekay Esports - met face to face in the IAC Grand Finals under the watchful gaze of a crowd of over 6000 League of Legends fans.
The final battle was a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat showdown between the reigning kings of IAC and an esports powerhouse... but in the end, Geekay Esports managed to assert their dominance and emerge victorious with a score of 3-1.
Wufo was elected MVP in 2022.
Fun fact: The design for the IAC trophy this year was created by a member of the community.
2023
A Global Stage
Despite the bittersweet end to IAC's three iterations, the unexpected emerged in 2023 with the birth of true esports in the MENA region.
The Arabian League replaced IAC, allowing non-MENA talents like Moscow5's Edward and veterans Satirous, Pabu and Elramir to join the competition alongside the stars of the region, like Giyuu, Dekap, Ren and others.
The competition reached new heights, testing players on a whole new level. The year concluded with a thrilling final in Saudi Arabia, where Anubis defeated NGX 3-2, becoming the champions of the summer split of Arabian League. and sparking renewed passion across EMEA.
2023 brought the League of Legends community together in other "arenas" outside esports. A new show titled "Find My Duo" found a Summoner in a blind matchmaking setup with three potential duos who had to win their heart in order to play with them on League's newest game mode.
2023 also saw Mishal becoming the most crowned player in the history of the MENA region.
The year was not as heavy in events and activities as other years, but the MENA team was hard at work behind the scenes preparing for 2024.
Little did players know, the ME server was already cooking...
2024
Our Era. Our Legends.
2024 was both the end and the start of a long journey for players in the Middle East.
With the start of the 2nd year of the Arabian League, Korean players joined the region. Nigma Galaxy and Geekay Esports formed two super teams that included a few of the best players in the region - Boda, Klownz, Giyuu and others.
The regular season started with a thrilling race between the two teams competing for the top spot, which was seized by Geekay Esports; however, Nigma Galaxy showed their class in the play-offs, beating their nemesis 3-0 in the finals as both teams were gearing for EMEA Masters Spring Split.
In the spring split of EMEA Masters, both Geekay and Nigma made history by being the first two teams to qualify from play-ins to play-offs, ending with Geekay finishing among the top 4 in EMEA Masters. This marked the biggest achievement in esports for the region in League of Legends history.
But this wasn't the only historical moment this year, as Riot Games announced on the 30th of March that it was finally launching League of Legends servers in the Middle East region, together with full Arabic localization.