The participating nations of the 2026 Esports Nations Cup have finalized their coaches across all games, and Sheep Esports is able to report some of these names for League of Legends. According to sources close to our media, Fabrizio "Gine" Ginestroni is expected to be the head coach of the Italian selection, while Fayan "Gevous" Pertijs is set to hold the same position for the Netherlands, and Austria’s head coach will be Tomasz "Vil" Bilko. Note that those coaches, selected by national team managers, still have to be approved by the Esports Foundation.

Mostly active in the Prime League throughout his career, the Polish coach has won several splits in the German league, notably with TT willhaben in 2021 and Austrian Force willhaben in 2023. Since the start of 2026, he has also competed in Road Of Legends, the Benelux League of Legends league, with Frites Esports Club, a team with which he won the Winter Split without dropping a single series. He will therefore lead the Austrian team, having claimed most of his titles with the two Austrian organizations.

In the Nations Cup section of Sheep Esports, the community was able to vote for the rosters they hoped to see in several countries, including Austria. With over 4,000 votes, the community selected Maximilian "" Rassi in the top lane, Benjamin "Crowdy" Micic in the jungle, Gurjot "Nan0" Singh in the mid lane, and a bot lane duo composed of Timothy "DizL" Warscher and Daniel "seaz" Binderhofer.

Still in the Benelux region, it is Gevous who will take on the role of head coach for the Netherlands. Having previously worked in Turkey and Brazil early in his career, the Dutch coach has built most of his experience in Europe since 2017, with a short stint at Splyce in the EU LCS before moving through the ERLs. He has notably worked with Movistar Riders, Team Heretics, and Rebels Gaming in Spain, Vitality.Bee in France, as well as short periods in Belgium and Germany. With Heretics, when the team was still competing in the LVP, he won the 2022 EMEA Masters Summer title.

For the Netherlands as well, the community voted on Sheep Esports to propose its ideal five-player roster. Following nearly 3,900 votes, the top lane goes to Tom "DrSaw" Willems of Brilman, with Mark "" van Woensel in the jungle, Joran "Special" Scheffer in the mid lane, Patrick "Asza" Jacobs as AD Carry, and Vladen "Saviour" Dvoretsky as support.

Active as a player until May 2022, the former Italian jungler transitioned into coaching at the end of his playing career. Gine began his coaching journey at DSYRE in the LIT, where he stayed for over two years before joining BK ROG Esports in 2025. With them, he won the LFL Summer Split before eventually signing with Solary for the 2026 season. Drawing on his experience, he went on to claim another title in the French league, winning the LFL Invitational, the first trophy in the organization’s history after years of pursuit.

For Italy, around 500 voters submitted their selections. In the top lane, Francesco "Shelfmade" Cardia was chosen by the community, with Zhao "" Zhi-Qiang in the jungle and Matteo "Vigil" Scarcelli in mid lane. In bot lane, Achille "Tyrone" Matrone was selected alongside his current support at HMBLE, Vittorio "Click" Massolo.

This trio, like the head coaches of other nations, will have to work closely with their respective national managers. These managers, appointed by the Esports Foundation, are responsible for selecting all coaches across the 16 games, including League of Legends, and will work with them to finalize the five starting players and two substitutes for each national roster in the MOBA. It should be noted that no team may include more than three players, substitutes included, from the same organization.

Scheduled to run from November 2 to 29 for its first edition in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the nation-based competition, set to be the largest in esports history, is expected to bring together thousands of players from around a hundred countries competing across nearly 16 titles. Alongside the League of Legends tournament, which will take place from November 21 to 29, there will also be national competitions in Counter-Strike, Rocket League, and Rainbow Six Siege. For Riot Games’ MOBA, around 32 teams, each representing a nation, will compete on-site.

Before that, the participants still need to be determined. The Esports Foundation, which oversees the ENC and the Esports World Cup, two separate events, has decided that 16 of the 32 teams will qualify directly for the final tournament based on their representatives’ results in Riot Games’ official circuits. The remaining teams will have to go through one of seven regional qualifiers, each granting two spots. The final two slots are expected to be distributed by the ENC as wildcards, likely at the discretion of the event organizer.