The
2026 Central American and Caribbean Games, set to take place from July 24 to August 8, 2026, will host a medal-awarded
League of Legends competition for the first time in the event’s history. For its 25th edition, exactly 100 years after the inaugural Games in 1926, Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, will welcome the CACG 2026 and will therefore feature esports disciplines including
Just Dance,
eFootball,
Street Fighter 6, and
League of Legends, according to
documents available on the competition’s official website.
A new nation-based League of Legends competition
Organized by Centro Caribe Sports, the 2026 event is expected to welcome nearly 6,000 athletes
from 37 nations, ranging from Mexico to Colombia, including Cuba and the Bahamas. The national Olympic committees of these countries will be responsible for forming and selecting the representatives who will compete across the various disciplines, with 483 events held across 40 different sports.
For the League of Legends tournament, only 32 nations are allowed to take part in the global qualifiers, with players required to be at least 18 years old. As the host nation, the Dominican Republic will receive a direct spot in the final competition, leaving five additional slots available for the event. The final stage will be held in LAN format with six participants, initially divided into two groups of three teams, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs.
While the group stage will be played entirely in Best of 1, the final stage will be contested in Best of 3. The winner will take home the gold medal, the runner-up will receive silver, and the bronze medal will go to the winner of the third-place match. The League of Legends qualifiers, split into four phases, will take place between January 23 and March 22, while the final competition, live from Santo Domingo, will begin on July 23.
Not the first one, not the last one
This is not the first time Riot Games’ MOBA has been featured as a medal-awarding discipline at a continental competition. In 2026, the Asian Games will also take place in Japan, likely the largest event of its kind at the moment, while the 2027 SEA Games will mark the game’s return. Present in 2023, and absent in 2025,
League of Legends could be featured in Malaysia in 2027, alongside
VALORANT and
Teamfight Tactics.
It is also worth noting that League of Legends was already part of the 2025 Central American Games, which bring together seven countries and were held in Panama City in 2025, where Panama claimed the title in the grand final against Guatemala.
