Without South Korea, there is no reason for the Esports Nations Cup to happen

Officially, South Korea will not compete Esports Nations Cup (ENC), at least not as a team sanctioned by the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA). The decision to withdraw reportedly stemmed from a dispute between KeSPA and the Esports Foundation over roster selection.

Whatever the reason, it’s the way the world is going delivered esports as we know it today, and with a report from Darragh Barbinson of Insider Gaming that China’s participation is also currently unconfirmed, the ENC will no longer be able to do its primary job of determining which nation is the best in a particular esport.

Without South Korean teams and players, the Esports Nations Cup is meaningless.

The Esports Nations Cup is a national team event created by the Esports Foundation as a sister event to the Esports World Cup. The event is expected to take place in Riyadh from November 2 to 29, 2026. It is another step in Saudi Arabia’s plan to present itself as a leading place in the world of sports.

The event will include competition in 16 esports titles, each team consisting of players from one nation.

The event’s official website boasts: “With more than 630 entries from over 152 countries and territories around the world, the message is clear: the world is ready to compete. This is not just a competition; a global organization fueled by the dream of representing your home at the highest level.”

Unfortunately, the dream of the “final competition” is over now that the esports powerhouse of South Korea (and maybe China too) is not going. Indeed, a loss to South Korea alone is enough to throw many organized events into chaos, given Korea’s dominance in many esports titles.

Take it League of LegendsFor example. Korea and China have captured 13 of the 15 League of Legends Worlds titles, and haven’t lost a single one since 2012. Without those countries in the bracket, how can the nation that won this event call their nation the best in the world in League of Legends? The truth is, they can’t.

Even without looking at the long history of sports, T1 won the last three Worlds titles, a historic three-peat led by the GOAT of sports, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. The idea that you can have a national competition that doesn’t include the reigning champions is unquestionable which does not make sense.

And it’s not just League of Legends that’s affected. Overwatch, Dota 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, VALORANTand other titles all feature highly competitive teams and players from South Korea and China.

Suffice it to say that their absence is no small setback for ENC: it is a disaster for the competition.

If the best in the world don’t compete in your world tournament, that’s a complete problem with ENC’s legitimacy, since the whole point is to find out which nation can put together the best single roster in certain esports.

Now it cannot do that.

The Esports Foundation has not given up yet, and will continue to fight for the participation of Korean players without a relationship with KeSPA.

“The commitment to the participation of Korean players in ENC26 has not changed,” they said in a statement. “In the coming week, we will work directly with the stakeholders in the Korean sports system, as well as the coaches and players, to agree on a way forward so that the ENC26 Korean National Esports Team can compete at a level worthy of Korean fans and athletes.”

However, the process of obtaining KeSPA approval is tricky for players and organizations. KeSPA exercises sovereignty over all matters related to national team sports in Korea.

In a statement sent to Seoul Esports, the Korean Olympic Games Committee said that “only athletes selected through official member organizations are recognized as national representatives. […] It is not acceptable that a team that has not passed the association will represent the nation.”

So any athletes competing in the ENC would be in contempt of the Korean Olympic Committee, or forced not to compete under the South Korean banner. Either way, the tournament remains a disguised version of what it would have been like if South Korea had competed legitimately.

Without an important nation like South Korea competing, there is no point in the competition.

ENC without South Korea is like Olympics without America or China. Although the event can go on without them, the popularity of the event is greatly affected, as many of the best in the world will not be competing.

The legitimacy of the tournament is at stake, as are its viewers. The esports community has been weary about the Esports Nations Cup as Saudi Arabian companies continue to take over the scene. So who will go against their morals to watch a tournament that doesn’t even feature top players? It feels a little Tier 2 rather than the best, and we all know that viewers drop to Tier 2 when teams compete to be crowned the best.

If the ENC’s goal is to create an electric event that will attract a global audience by competing against each nation’s biggest players, the chances of achieving that goal outside of South Korea are not at all questionable. And given the aforementioned reluctance to compete with China, which are arguably the two most competitive regions in non-competitive sports, what is the point?

Although some events will be unaffected by Korea’s absence, the ENC as a whole has no weight if the country that brought us esports in the first place does not attend. If Korea is out, obviously, so am I.