From September 19 to October 4, the
2026 Asian Games will be held in Japan, in Aichi Prefecture. The official competition, affiliated with the International Olympic Committee, is reserved for the 45 nations that are part of the Olympic Council of Asia. For this new edition, esports is once again on the program for the third time, after 2018 and 2022, with eleven different disciplines, including
League of Legends. This Thursday, September 17, the organizing committee revealed the groups for the tournament on Riot Games' MOBA.
For
League of Legends, the competition will be held over four days, from September 29 to October 2, with a first group stage, which was drawn today, followed by a quick four-team playoff stage. For the first phase, eight nations will meet at the Aichi Sky Expo, including two invited and heavy favorites, South Korea and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei in the Olympic context), as well as six nations that made it through the qualifiers. Among those six, Vietnam and Hong Kong, with players competing in Tier 1, appear to be well ahead of India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia, who could struggle to make it to the final stages.
For the draw of the two groups, it appears that the Asian Games organizers did not take the time to establish a seeding, with the two groups not being particularly balanced, especially with the winner and runner-up of the previous edition placed in the same group. Indeed, in Group B, South Korea, featuring major
League of Legends stars such as Lee "
" Sang-hyeok, Keria, Choi "
" Woo-je, and Ryu "
" Min-seok, will face Taiwan and its JD Gaming duo of Tsai "
" Ming-hong and Yu "
" Chun-chia. Alongside these two major nations, India, likely to finish fourth in the group, and Hong Kong will also compete, with its bot lane of Li "
" Sau Nam and Ling "
" Kai Wing, who also compete in Tier 1.
In Group A, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will likely have to battle for second place in the group, which would qualify for the playoffs. First place, meanwhile, should go to Vietnam without too much doubt, with its five players coming from the LCP, the Pacific League of Legends league, all qualified for Worlds with their respective clubs, GAM Esports and Team Secret Whales. It is also worth noting the presence of Edward "Edward" Abgaryan, former support for Gambit Esports and Moscow Five, as the coach of the Saudi Arabian team.
