Sources: Spain selects mithy in LoL, thinkii in VALORANT and MusambaN1 in CS2 for ENC 2026

Like all other countries participating in the Esports Nations Cup, Spain is currently preparing its various national selections. According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Alfonso "mithy" Rodríguez is expected to take charge of the League of Legends team, Manuel "thinkii" Martínez the VALORANT roster, while Jonathan "MusambaN1" Torrent will coach the Spanish Counter-Strike 2 team.

Currently an assistant coach for Team Heretics, mithy has been part of numerous teams across Europe and North America, both as a player and as a member of coaching staffs. Active as a support from 2012 to late 2019, he then began his coaching career with Fnatic before moving to the US with Cloud9, first as Strategic Coach and later as Head Coach. A role and organization he would return to in 2023, following a year with 100 Thieves in 2022, still in the LCS. It was only at the start of 2026, after the end of his stint with FlyQuest, that he returned to EMEA, with the Spanish coach now set to join the staff leading Spain at ENC 2026.

Available on Sheep Esports in the Nations Cup section, League of Legends fans worldwide can vote for the players and rosters they believe should compete in the tournament, acting as national team selectors. Out of nearly 12,000 votes, the community selected Óscar "" Muñoz Jiménez in the top lane, Javier "" Prades Batalla as jungler, Raúl "" Moreno Valero in the midlane, with David "" Martínez García and Álvaro "" Fernández del Amo completing the lineup as AD Carry and Support.

It is important to note that mithy, like thinkii and MusambaN1, was selected by David "Lozark" Alonso, Spain’s national manager for ENC 2026 and current esports director for GIANTX. He and each of the coaches for their respective games will have to select five players and two substitutes to represent Spain. Notably, a maximum of three players per roster can come from the same organization, including substitutes, making it impossible, for example, to field the four KOI players currently competing in the LEC on League of Legends.

For VALORANT, thinkii, currently Head Coach of PCIFIC Esports in VCT EMEA, will take on the same role for the Spanish national team heading into the Esports Nations Cup. Having worked with several local clubs in Challengers Spain such as KPI, Arctic, Team Queso, and UCAM, he has already held Head Coach roles with some of them. He eventually reached VCT EMEA in mid-2025 as an assistant for BBL Esports, before joining PCF, another Turkish organization, in the same role at the start of the year. Ultimately, issues that sidelined his former Head Coach opened the door for him. Absent from VCT EMEA, most Spanish players are currently active in the domestic league, such as Adolfo "Fit1nho" Gallego, formerly of GIANTX, and Antonio "Guardy" Guardiola, both playing for Barça eSports this season.

On the Counter-Strike side, the format and schedule are the biggest challenges for all countries entering Valve’s FPS, as Bora "YellOwStar" Kim recently explained in a podcast. For Spain, a historic figure of the scene, MusambaN1, is expected to oversee the creation of a competitive roster despite the many issues surrounding CS2. Already active on CS:Source as early as 2003, he played until 2018, mainly within the Spanish scene, representing several organizations such as Giants Gaming, x6tence, and Wizards Esports Club before transitioning into coaching. He spent nearly four years with MAD Lions, before coaching BIG’s female team between mid-2022 and mid-2025. He is currently coaching AM Gaming, a team ranked around the Top 60 in the VRS standings.

Scheduled from November 2 to 29 for its inaugural edition in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, this nation-based competition, the largest in esports history, is expected to gather thousands of players from around 100 countries, competing across nearly 16 titles. Alongside the VALORANT tournament, set to take place from November 8 to 15, there will also be national competitions in Honor of Kings, Rocket League, and Rainbow Six Siege. For Riot Games’ FPS, around 32 teams, each representing a nation, will compete on site. For LoL, the competition will run from November 21 to 29, during the final week, also featuring 32 teams. Only 24 teams are planned for CS2, with the competition taking place from November 10 to 15.

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