Esports continue their global expansion, consolidating as a competitive segment with growing interest from brands and medium- and long-term investments. In this context, Saudi Arabia has become one of the main drivers of the sector: it already finances the Esports World Cup, the most important club tournament in the world, and is now promoting an even more ambitious project.
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This is the Esports Nations Cup 2026, an unprecedented tournament in which private teams do not compete, but rather national teams. The format is reminiscent of an Olympic Games applied to video games: each country sends its best players to represent their nation in different titles. Never before has a tournament of this scale been organized with this scheme.
League of Legends, confirmed for Esports Nations Cup 2026
One of the most anticipated announcements arrived this week. According to confirmation from Sheep Esports, a specialized media outlet with recognized credibility in the sector, League of Legends will participate in the Esports Nations Cup. The news carries special weight because the title developed by Riot Games is one of the competitive video games with the largest following worldwide, and its presence was considered almost indispensable for the tournament to have global relevance.
The League of Legends competition will take place towards the end of the event, during the last or penultimate week of November, to avoid coinciding with Worlds, the game’s official world championship, which is held at the beginning of the same month. The specific phase for this video game would last approximately one week, although official details have not yet been published.
Dates and venue of the Esports Nations Cup 2026
The Esports Nations Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia between November 2 and 29, 2026. Like the Esports World Cup, the Arab country will host this new competition. Many aspects still remain to be officially confirmed, but the dates and host country are already considered consolidated information.
How many national teams will participate?
The exact number of participating countries in the League of Legends branch has not been announced. However, taking as a reference the already known format of other titles within the same competition, such as Counter-Strike 2, it is estimated that the tournament will feature between 24 and 32 national teams.
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The rules that will define the call-ups
One of the most relevant aspects of the tournament is its system of restrictions, designed to ensure that the national teams are genuinely representative of each country.
Each nation will be able to call up five starting players, a coach, and two substitutes. However, no country may include more than three members from the same club. This means, for example, that Spain could not simultaneously call up the four Spanish players from Movistar KOI, which represents a real limitation for the Spanish national team, as having a block of teammates who compete together all year would be a considerable advantage.
Additionally, to be able to represent a country, players must hold a passport from that nation with at least one year of seniority before the close of call-ups, set for April 30. The measure seeks to avoid opportunistic naturalizations that have been seen in other sports and that detract from the legitimacy of tournaments between national teams.
The Esports Nations Cup still has much to be defined, but the confirmation of League of Legends is a clear sign that the project is moving forward. The World Cup of video game national teams is already a reality in the making.
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