EDIT:
Cloud9 and
Sentinels are streaming the EWC clean feed. Teams are allowed to stream their players’ POV, too.
______
League of Legends competitors around the globe are starting to fire their engines towards the 2026
Esports World Cup (
EWC). All six regions must earn their path to Main Stage qualification in Saudi Arabia by either winning their region's second split or claiming a spot through the Online Qualifiers.
North American fans won’t have to wait until Saturday to watch their favorite teams play, as the
online qualifiers kick off on April 14th. Only two NA teams will make it to Riyadh: the LCS Spring Split winner and the Online Qualifier winner, making every series here a high-stakes elimination match.
No official broadcast
Just hours before the start of the first match between
and
, EWC's official channels had yet to announce any way to watch the qualifiers. The Chinese online qualifier, the only other one currently being played, has had streams running, though with bare-bones production and no HUDs.
Some of the North American organizations have come to the rescue of fans eager to watch these matches. According to Leaguepedia, the first day of online qualifiers will have a
couple of interesting matches. The first match pairs the current LCS Champion and the first team eliminated during the 2026 LCS Lock-In Tournament, while the second will be a rematch from Week 1 of Spring Split.
Day 1 matchups
Though the Mexican organization arrives as the favorite, their Spring Split form seems shaky enough to allow the Rebels to pull off the upset. This will be the first match of the season between these teams with their current roster iteration.
The second series features the rematch between
and
. This will be the third series these teams have played in the past two weeks. The rookie roster will look to upset the team tied for first place in the LCS Spring Split.
LYON has announced that their series against Shopify Rebellion will be costreamed by
LYON Toad, one of their official costreamers. Meanwhile, FlyQuest President and Chief Gaming Officer, Chris “
PapaSmithy" Smith, will dust off his former career as a caster as
he will be streaming the team’s rematch against TL.
Silence from the Teams
, , , and
, the teams scheduled to play on April 15th, have yet to announce any form of costream for their debut series. We can add Team Liquid and Shopify to the list, as they didn’t provide costreaming options for their matches.
The EWC will provide an official stream for the Online Qualifiers’ semifinals and finals only, according to what was shared with one of the costreamers. The finals will be the only best-of-five series and will be played on April 29th. You can follow EWC’s schedule on
Sheep Esports.
