The Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) announced Tuesday that Riot Games’ League of Legends will be a competitive title at the inaugural Esports Nations Cup 2026 (ENC), set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November.
League of Legends joins the other previously announced titles that will be part of ENC this year, including Rocket League, Valorant, Apex Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Rainbow Six Siege, EA Sports FC 26, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Chess, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Trackmania, and Honor of Kings. A total of 16 titles will be played at the nation vs. nation competition. Three titles are still to be announced.
EWCF said in its announcement that 32 nations will take part in a three-stage competition featuring play-ins, a group stage, and the playoff bracket. The ENC League of Legends tournament will begin on Nov. 21 and will conclude with the Grand Finals on Nov. 29.
- 32 national teams will compete at the League of Legends event at ENC 2026.
- 16 teams will be invited to the competition based on a new ENC national team ranking.
- The top 8 teams from the ranking will be directly invited to the group stage, while #9-16 will receive a slot in the play-in stage.
- 14 teams will be able to qualify through regional online qualifiers
- Two teams will come from Wildcard slots.
More details on direct invites and the new ranking system:
“The Esports Nations Cup will determine its direct invites via a newly developed ENC national team ranking considering global and regional LoL competitions. Clubs will be ranked based on placements at official Riot Games competitions, with those points equally shared across all Club teammates who participated. The national ranking will then accumulate the points of the top five players on the submitted national roster. The cut-off date for the national ranking is June 14, 2026.”
The League of Legends online qualifier will take place between June 19 and 21 and will feature double elimination brackets. The best-performing roster per nation will qualify for ENC until the regional slot allocation is reached. Qualifiers will run in the following regions:
- North America (2 slots)
- South America (2)
- Europe West (2)
- Europe East (2)
- Southeast Asia + Oceania (2)
- Asia (2)
- Middle East + Africa (2)
The ENC is set to take place Nov. 2 – 29, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The competition is being produced by the EWCF, which is funded through a so-called “sports grant” by the Saudi Arabian government’s sovereign wealth fund, the PIF.
Projects backed by the Saudi government are often accused of being used for “sports washing,” or as a cover for the government to gloss over its record on human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, its mistreatment (and executions of) journalists, military actions in Yemen, and more. These and other criticisms have been highlighted by international watchdog groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.