All upcoming League of Legends international events in 2026

Even though all League of Legends regional leagues will be over soon, one of the busiest stretches of the year for LoL esports is yet to come. From new international opportunities for Tier 2 players to the biggest tournament of the year, there is plenty to keep track of over the coming weeks.

These include the Asian Games, EMEA Masters Summer, World Star Challengers Invitational, Demacia Cup Global Invitational and Worlds, all of which are coming up before the offseason officially begins. Fans can find details about every upcoming League of Legends international event below, including their dates, formats and the reputed teams already confirmed to participate.

World Star Challengers Invitational is the latest addition to the list of international League of Legends esports events. It is basically an expansion of the Asia Masters or the EMEA Masters and will be the first-ever global LoL tournament for Tier 2 teams.

Running from September 20 to October 2, WSCI 2026 will bring together 16 teams from China, Korea, APAC, the Americas and EMEA. Each of the five regions will have three representatives, while the 16th spot will go to the 2026 Asia Masters champion Dplus KIA Challengers, who received a direct invite.

All 16 squads will first be divided into four equal groups in the Group Stage, where they will compete in a Double Round Robin format. From there, the top two teams from each group will advance to the Knockout Stage, which will follow a single-elimination format until a champion is decided.

The top teams from the EMEA Regional Leagues (ERLs) will battle at EMEA Masters Summer from September 21 to October 23. It will feature 43 squads, 15 more than EMEA Masters Spring and 12 more than EMEA Masters Winter, making it one of the largest multi-league tournaments of the year.

The three EMEA representatives at WSCI 2026 — Solary, Galions and the winner of the WSCI EMEA Qualifier — will be invited directly to the event’s Knockout Stage. Other popular organizations competing in the EMEA Masters Summer Split include Karmine Corp Blue, G2 NORD, BIG, MKOI Fénix, and more.

Coming to the format, out of the 43 teams, 16 will play in the Last Chance Qualifier, featuring GSL-style groups. The top eight teams from LCQ will join the 26 teams already seeded in the Main Event, which consists of a Swiss Stage, Knockout Matches and Playoffs.

The top 13 squads from the Swiss Stage will advance to the Playoffs. Meanwhile, the 14th, 15th, and 16th seeds will face the three WSCI 2026 teams in the Knockout Stage, fighting to stay alive in the tournament. The Playoffs will feature 16 teams competing in a single-elimination bracket until a winner is crowned.

League of Legends will once again feature as a medal tournament at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. While the wider Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4, LoL medal matches are scheduled for October 2 at Aichi Sky Expo.

A total of eight national teams will compete for the gold medal. South Korea and Chinese Taipei, the top two nations in the 2022 Asian Games League of Legends competition respectively, have received direct qualification, while the other six countries were decided through qualifiers held in Kuala Lumpur in June.

South Korea, featuring star players such as Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok, will be defending its title and will undoubtedly have the most attention from fans. Chinese Taipei, meanwhile, has only retained Chiu "Doggo" Tzu-Chuan from its previous national roster, so it will be interesting to see if the new core can replicate the performance delivered by the previous roster at the Asian Games.

Similar to WSCI 2026, the Chinese IP Demacia Cup has also been upgraded to the Demacia Cup Global Invitational. It will now give teams that failed to qualify for Worlds 2026 a chance to compete one more time internationally before entering the offseason.

Six major leagues, including the LPL, LCK, LEC, LCS, LCP and CBLOL, will send twelve participants to DCGI 2026, with the slot distribution decided based on each region’s performance at MSI 2026.

The tournament will run from October 3 to 17 in China, with KT Rolster, BNK FEARX, HANJIN BRION, LGD Gaming, and GAM Esports already confirmed to compete, and the remaining teams yet to be decided. DCGI 2026 will open with a Swiss Stage before the top eight teams move on to the single-elimination Knockout Stage to decide the winner.

The League of Legends World Championship 2026 will be the most hyped event that crowns the best LoL team in the world on November 14. Beginning on October 15, the tournament will bring fans and the top 19 teams from across the globe to the United States.

T1 will enter Worlds 2026 as the defending champions, with the goal of winning its fourth consecutive World Championship. Dplus KIA, on the other hand, will finally make its return to the event after four years. It will also be Karmine Corp’s first-ever Worlds appearance, while Fnatic will miss out for the first time in a decade.

Other teams qualified for the tournament include Hanwha Life, Gen.G, Bilibili Gaming, G2 Esports, Secret Whales, and CTBC Flying Oyster. The remaining teams will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Four teams will kick off the competition in the Play-In, featuring a double-elimination bracket. The Play-In winner will join the 15 teams already seeded directly into the Swiss Stage, with the top eight squads advancing to the final stage, the Knockout Stage. Also, just to note, Fearless Draft will be used in all best-of-three and best-of-five series of the event.

The ultimate Worlds 2026 champion will be decided through a single-elimination bracket, with the winner taking home the trophy along with $1,000,000 from the massive $5,000,000 prize pool.

The inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC) was originally scheduled to take place in November 2026, making it one of the final major international esports events of the year to feature League of Legends.

However, the Esports Foundation announced on August 18 that it would be postponed to November 2027 following an “ongoing assessment of the wider regional situation, and after consultation with key stakeholders.”

The event is still planned to be held in Riyadh, with organisations from more than 100 countries and territories already having secured National Team Partner status.

“Given ENC’s unprecedented international scale and the uncertainty created by the wider regional situation, EF believes moving the inaugural competition to November 2027 is the responsible decision to provide the certainty and stability that National Teams, publishers, partners and fans expect,” the official announcement stated.