The Japan Esports Union has announced that the country will not take part in the League of Legends event at the 2026 Asian Games to be held in Aichi and Nagoya.
Japan will be sending esports representatives to seven competitions, confirming its absence in four tournaments.
The exact reasoning behind this decision hasn’t been revealed by the Japan Esports Union. Alongside its absence in League of Legends, the host country will not participate in the Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Naraka: Bladepoint events.
Apart from Japan, Thailand also announced its withdrawal from League of Legends on February 7th. According to the announcement, this was to “ensure that the implementation is in line with the policy and appropriate budget with the National Sports Development Fund.”
Meanwhile, the Japan Esports Union has opened the selection process for Gran Turismo 7, eFootball, Puyo Puyo eSports, and team-based fighting games. Details regarding Pokémon Unite, PUBG Mobile, and Identity V will be announced at a later date.
2026 Esports Asian Games Schedule and Venue
The Asian Games will be returning to Japan after 32 years, with esports being an official medal sport and featuring 13 tournaments across 11 titles. All esports competitions will be held from September 23rd to October 2nd at Aichi Sky Expo, also known as Aichi International Exhibition Center, located in Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture.
The previous Asian Games held in 2022 featured seven esports titles, highlighting a massive expansion heading for its 20th edition.
Talking specifically about League of Legends, South Korea won the gold medal with a roster featuring T1’s core line-up (Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, and Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok).
Editor’s Note: Some of the information above has been translated from Japanese and Thai, so there may be slight variations.
