League of Legends has been added to the list of Esports Nations Cup 2026

The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced the addition of League of Legends among the titles of 16 games in the beginning Esports Nations Cup (ENC).

The nationally-based tournament will see 32 national teams compete from November 21 to November 29, featuring play-ins, group stage, and playoff brackets, with a combined prize pool of $1.5m (~£1.1m).

The first stage of the tournament will be the Play-Ins, which will include 24 teams that will compete in a group stage with four groups of six teams each. All the same will be the best of one. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Group Stage.

The Group Stage will then see the top 16 teams compete in a round-robin format, with four groups of four teams each playing a best-of-three series. The top two from each group advance to the Playoffs, where they will compete in a single-elimination bracket. The same will be the best of three and, apart from the Grand Final, which will be the fifth.

According to the release, the tournament organizer will invite 16 teams based on the ranking of the newly developed national team that will consider the global and regional LoL tournaments.

Clubs will be ranked based on placement in official Riot Games tournaments, with points allocated equally to all participating teammates. The national ranking will then accumulate the points of the top five players in the national ranking submitted. Two players are allowed per team.

The closing date for the rankings will be June 14, roughly after the end of the Spring Split in all major regions and before the start of the Mid-Season Invitational, which begins on June 27 in Daejeon, South Korea.

Among the remaining 16 teams, 14 of them will qualify through regional online qualifiers, with the following distribution of slots:

Online qualifiers will take place from June 19 to June 21, which includes double-elimination brackets. The best performing national program will qualify for the event until the quota is reached. There will be two additional wildcard slots, although no indication has been given as to how they will be allocated.

According to the team composition manual, the national team can only field up to three players from one club. For example, up to three T1 players can be part of the South Korean national team.

Last month, EWCF announced a $45m (~£32.6m) commitment to it sports industry, $20m (~£14.4m) will be distributed as prize pools.