How Faker coached South Korea to winning the Asian Games 2026

They’ve done it. The South Korean national League of Legends team has won the Asian Games 2026 without dropping a single game, securing the team’s second consecutive title after winning the 2022 edition. Still, the manner in which the team asserted utter dominance in the tournament in the end was perhaps a bit surprising. Indeed, having brought on both legendary ’s and ’ , the team elected to let the latter play for most of the tournament, giving Faker only a single on-stage game during the group stage against India’s national team. After the finals, both players briefly spoke on Faker’s role behind the scenes at the event.

Overall, the tournament proved little challenge for South Korea, something rather unsurprising given the LCK’s utter dominance historically in League of Legends esports. Still, while some may point to the individual level, it seems that the team had a special weapon in its arsenal. While the team was officially coached by Kang "Hirai" Dong-hoon, former coach of , Zeka seemed to imply that Faker played a sizeable role in the team’s victory:

"There was heavy pressure and responsibility as it was my first Asian Games, but Faker gave me a lot of advice regarding champion matchups and item builds right by my side, allowing me to play comfortably. Thanks to playing while trusting my outstanding teammates, I am proud to have contributed to the consecutive titles,” reported SBS News after the grand finals.

This did not seem to bother Faker, though. While he admitted that he would have liked to play in the finals, he, in his usual self, expressed a humble attitude and candid joy over his team’s victory, even if it was achieved without him getting to step onto the stage. “Personally, of course I do have the desire to play in the match and win the championship myself, but I think that’s more of a personal ambition. Rather than focusing on that, I think winning together as a team and the things we gain from this process are more valuable,” he clarified, before continuing: “I am so happy and proud that the South Korean national esports team has achieved back-to-back gold medals.”

This is not the first time Faker has shared his role. The most documented time was the 2015 season, when Lee "Easyhoon" Ji-hoon shared the starting position on SKT T1, leading the team alongside Faker to a Worlds title that year. Though this was a long time ago, one can imagine that Faker then served in a similar manner as a positional coach for Easyhoon while also competing. Later on, SKT attempted similar experiments with in 2016 and Choi "Pirean" Jun-sik in 2018. Four years later, he also shared his position with at the Asian Games, where he again only played a single on-stage game, while the latter filled in for the rest of the event.

All in all, though, this experience could very well prove to be a much more valuable one. As time goes on, while Faker remains one of the best players in the world, many have speculated about what he might do one day once he decides to retire from playing. Faker himself has acknowledged in interviews that retirement is something he may eventually consider, although there are currently no signs that he plans to step away from competitive play anytime soon.

But with his proficiency in coaching, one may wonder if Faker could extend his longevity in esports by fully pivoting into a coaching role in the future, putting his years of experience to the benefit of the new generation and helping build the next Faker, if that is even achievable.