League of Legends launches French esports competition for women

League of Legends (LoL) has unveiled the Nova Series, a French esports competition for women and other marginalised genders.

Offering a €10,000 (~£8,700) cash prize, the circuit’s inaugural edition, Nova Series: Prélude, will take place from November 8th until December 6th.

“We have always been here. On the Rift. In every match. In every fight. Sometimes in silence… but always determined,” emphasised the announcement video from October 22nd.

“We have experienced defeat. We have grown hungry for victory. Carrying our teams. Shining in the shadows. Today, it is time to write our own history. A new era is beginning and it belongs to us.” 

The launch of the Nova Series comes amidst the first-ever League of Legends Game Changers (LGC) split, a dedicated LoL competitive ecosystem for women akin to VALORANT’s successful Game Changers project.

Following rumours arising in January, LoL developer Riot Games officially introduced the new EMEA league in June. Its inaugural split, LGC 2025 Rising, is about to conclude on October 31st with the Grand Final between Eterna and G2 HEL.

The Nova Series: Prélude will kick off with two qualifiers, taking place from November 8th-9th and from November 15th-16th, respectively. 

Each qualifier will see 32 European teams fight for a spot at the main event. Participants must first survive a seven-round Swiss Stage, featuring best-of-one (BO1) matches.

The top four Swiss Stage teams will qualify for the Playoffs, which offer two main event seeds per qualifier. All Playoffs matches will be best-of-threes (BO3s).

The main competition will commence on November 23rd, taking the four qualified teams into a single-elimination bracket. The Semifinals will once again be played as BO3s to determine the two finalists.

On December 6th, the Nova Series will crown its first champion through a best-of-five (BO5) LAN Grand Final in Paris. Additional details for interested teams can be found on the tournament’s official website.