According to a report by ESPN's Jacob Wolf and Tyler Erzberger, the Vietnamese representatives will not be able to attend this year's World Championship in Shanghai. The report states that the VCS teams would not be allowed to reenter Vietnam after traveling to China, prompting the teams to bow out of the tournament.

As this is the first occurrence of a team or region being unable to attend, Riot has reportedly decided to proceed with 22 teams rather than the original 24, pending confirmation. The change in overall team number will, of course, change the format for the tournament, but none have yet been announced. 

The remaining question is whether or not any others will be affected by the Worlds' location. Many countries around the world have travel bans, and may have trouble returning to their home regions after the event, like Vietnam does. Jacob Wolf highlights another issue that has yet to be fully solved with NA teams in a twitter thread. 

Worlds will be held in a bubble, with mandatory quarantine, but despite that, travel is still dangerous in general. With various travel bans across the globe, returning home may present some problems elsewhere depending on immigration and residency status.  Riot has not yet responded to the ESPN report, but you can expect Worlds to look and operate differently than originally announced. 

This is an ongoing story and Inven Global will update upon further development. 

For more LoL Esports news and content, head over to our dedicated League of Legends section!

Find full schedules, brackets, and more for your favorite esports on Juked.gg!