Japan opts out of LoL event at Aichi-Nagoya. Credit: Asian Games 2026

After Thailand, Japan has now revealed that it will not take part in the League of Legends tournament at the 2026 Asian Games. The event, which will be held in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, from September 23 to October 2, will feature eleven different esports tournaments, including LoL, of course, but also Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Honor of Kings. The exact dates for Riot Games’ MOBA tournament have not yet been announced.
As a result, this marks the first time in League of Legends history that the host country will not participate in the tournament. In 2018, when the Games were held in Jakarta, Indonesia took part, as did China in 2022 during the Asian Games in Hangzhou. This non-participation was announced by the Japan eSports Union, which stated that it will only send players for Pokémon Unite, PUBG Mobile, Identity V, eFootball, Puyo Puyo, Gran Turismo, and the various fighting games.

Unexpected choices

This is the second federation to announce its non-participation, following Thailand in early February. The Thai federation’s announcement sparked significant criticism in the comments. At the same time, the TESF justified its decision by explaining that “operations are aligned with policy and with a budget appropriate to the National Sports Development Fund”.

For Japan, however, no clear explanation appears to have been provided. The decision is somewhat surprising, as the country sent a team to South Korea for the KeSPA Cup, which suggested an initial selection attempt ahead of the Asian Games. In addition, the LJL, Japan’s League of Legends league, remains very active, and the country has two clubs competing in the LCP, SoftBank HAWKS gaming and DetonatioN FocusMe.

Japan had already not taken part in 2018, during League’ first appearance at the Asian Games, but did compete in 2022. At the time, the Japanese team was eliminated in the group stage after a win against Palestine and a loss to Vietnam. Yuta “Yutapon” Sugiura, the AD Carry during the competition, was the most well-known Japanese player in the lineup, with four appearances at Worlds and three at MSI with DFM.

Given that the host nation will not participate, no teams have been officially confirmed so far, even though it is easy to imagine that South Korea, China, and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) will be present in Aichi for the competition, as they are among the favorites. As for the other teams, Jonathan Sirisackda, president of the Lao Esports Federation, revealed that a qualification tournament will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, around mid-June.