In a post published this Tuesday, May 12, VIRESA revealed the qualifier dates for several of the eleven esports disciplines featured at the 2026 Asian Games, including Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Naraka Bladepoint, Identity V, and League of Legends. For LoL, as well as HoK, nations that are not directly invited to the competition in Japan will have to travel to Malaysia in mid-June to try to qualify.
Who will compete in the qualifiers?
Alongside the possible absence of South Korea in Malaysia, although not officially confirmed yet, several Asian nations have already announced that they will not participate in the League of Legends event. Despite being the host nation and directly invited, Japan will not field a roster in Riot Games’ MOBA, as announced by the Japan eSports Union last December. The decision sparked significant discussion in the country, as local players and industry figures continue trying to sustain and grow the Japanese scene.
Like Japan, both Thailand and Indonesia have also confirmed they will not participate, though they are clearly not the only absentees. According to information gathered by Sheep Esports from the social media accounts of various national representatives, Tajikistan, Malaysia itself, Myanmar, Nepal, and Singapore also appear unlikely to take part, as they have only announced participation in several other Asian Games 2026 esports titles, but not League of Legends.
On the other side, among the nations expected to compete for medals are South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, alongside Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India, Sri Lanka, Laos, and Jordan. Having announced these dates, Vietnam should logically be in as well.