Esports is back on the Asian Games medal table. From September 22 to October 2, the Aichi Sky Expo in Japan hosts 11 medal events across 13 game titles at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Games – almost double the seven titles that debuted as full medal sports at Hangzhou 2023. For fans of King of Glory, known internationally as Honor of Kings, and League of Legends, the two MOBA tournaments are the centrepiece of the programme, and the participant lists released this week already tell a few surprising stories.
The programme: 13 titles, 11 medals, two weeks
The Olympic Council of Asia has grouped the 13 games into 11 medal events. Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV are bundled into a single fighting-game medal, while the big MOBAs stand alone. The full line-up covers Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, KOF XV, League of Legends, Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Pokémon UNITE, PUBG Mobile, eFootball, Gran Turismo 7, Puyo Puyo Champions, Naraka: Bladepoint and Identity V.
The schedule opens on September 23 with eFootball (24 teams), Gran Turismo 7 (16) and the first day of Naraka: Bladepoint (8). The fighting games follow on September 25–26 with 14 delegations. Honor of Kings runs September 27–28 with 11 teams, PUBG Mobile on September 28–29 with 12, and League of Legends closes the programme from September 29 to October 2 with an eight-team field. Mobile Legends squeezes in on October 1 with 11 teams.
Honor of Kings: China returns to defend, but the field is deep
China took the Honor of Kings gold at Hangzhou three years ago, and the delegation is competing in only four titles this time – Identity V, Naraka: Bladepoint, PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings – which says a lot about where the priorities lie. Tencent Esports confirmed on September 17 that the Chinese national training team rosters have been revealed alongside the format and schedule, and the Honor of Kings squad will be the one every other delegation is measuring itself against.
The rest of the confirmed Honor of Kings field is broad: Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar have all entered. Southeast Asia is the obvious threat, and Malaysia and Thailand both stood on the podium in 2023. With the tournament compressed into just two days, there is very little margin for a slow start.
League of Legends: no China, no Japan, eight teams
The League of Legends bracket is the headline curiosity. Neither China nor host nation Japan appears on the eight-team entry list. Instead, the field is South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and India. South Korea won gold at Hangzhou 2023 with a roster built around LCK stars, and without China in the bracket the Koreans go in as overwhelming favourites – provided their pros are released from club duties in the run-up to Worlds.
That timing is the elephant in the room. The LoL medal matches land on September 29 to October 2, just weeks before the World Championship, so exactly which players each federation can call on will decide how competitive the tournament actually is. Vietnam and Chinese Taipei are the most likely to push Korea if they bring full-strength line-ups.
Who is competing in what
Hong Kong has entered the most events with ten, ahead of Malaysia and South Korea on nine. Japan competes in seven titles but sits out both MOBAs, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both investing heavily in esports at home, are in five and three events respectively.
What it means for esports bettors
National-team events are a different beast from club competition. Rosters are assembled at short notice, practice time is limited, and the gap between the top seed and the rest is often bigger than the odds suggest. Expect esports bookmakers to open markets on the Honor of Kings and League of Legends medal matches and possibly PUBG Mobile, with outright medal-winner markets appearing first. Korea’s LoL price will be short; the value, if there is any, will sit in the Honor of Kings bracket where China’s squad is untested against a Southeast Asian field that has spent all year on the international circuit.
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