The qualification process for the
Esports Nations Cup 2026 is becoming clearer. The official
ENC National Ranking rulebook provides all the necessary details regarding how squads will be selected to determine which 24 teams will receive a direct invitation to the main event for the
Rocket League tournament.
As a reminder, the ENC is a nation-based competition set to take place in Saudi Arabia in November 2026, featuring 16 different titles and thousands of athletes from around a hundred countries.
For Rocket League, the tournament will run from November 2 to 8, with 48 nations competing. Half of them will qualify directly for the event based on the ranking established by the Esports Foundation, which organizes the competition, while the remaining teams will have to go through continental qualifiers.
Decoding the ENC National Ranking
For Rocket League, the qualification period runs from November 14th, 2025 to May 24th, 2026, using the RLCS 2026 rankings as the official point system. National rankings will be calculated based on the combined points of each country’s three best-performing players, with a maximum of two players from the same club counting toward the total.
All RLCS 2026 competitions played during the eligible period will contribute to the rankings. Direct invites will be determined through overall RLCS regional rankings, while ENC Finals seeding will rely exclusively on results from the Boston and Paris Majors to better compare regional strength.
Who should already be qualified?
Unlike many of the other selected titles, RL already benefits from an established international national-team circuit through the
FIFAe Nations League. In 2024, Saudi Arabia defeated France in the grand final of the inaugural edition, before France got its revenge in 2025 by beating the Saudi players in the final. After a disappointing semifinal finish in the first edition, Brazil ended in the same position again last year.
Instead of simple regional qualifiers, FIFA introduced a more extensive long-term format. More than 71 countries, spread across nearly five continental qualifiers, are competing for spots at the LAN Finals. Participating nations range from well-known teams such as the United States, Morocco, and England, to Papua New Guinea, Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Comoros.
