The Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) has unveiled the final candidate roster that will represent South Korea in League of Legends at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games — with Lee "Faker
Barring a late twist, head coach Kang "Hirai" Dong-hoon will lead Choi "Zeus" Woo-je, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu, Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo, Faker, Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok in the country's bid to defend its gold medal.
Faker first wore the Taegeuk jersey at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, where esports featured as a demonstration event, before winning gold in Hangzhou in 2023 — the first edition where the discipline counted as an official medal event. Park "Ruler" Jae-hyeok was the only other player to feature in both, but he has not made the cut this time around.
Zeus and Keria, the two other Hangzhou gold medalists on the list, secure back-to-back call-ups. Canyon, Zeka and Gumayusi, on the other hand, will make their national team debuts. The mid and bot races drew the most attention, with Zeka and Gumayusi edging out Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon and LPL-based Park "Viper" Do-hyeon to make Hirai's cut. Gen.G top laner Kim "Kiin" Gi-in, T1 jungler Moon "Oner" Hyeon-joon, and KT Rolster midlaner Gwak "Bdd" Bo-sung were among the other notable names left off the list.
Chovy's omission was the most discussed of all. According to Kookmin Ilbo, the Gen.G mid laner — who started for South Korea in 2023 — pulled out of contention to focus on treating a chronic hip issue he has been managing since last year. A KeSPA official added that some service-eligible candidates had been removed from the shortlist after interviews, citing injury treatment or military service obligations.
There is also a familiar reunion in the bot lane. Gumayusi and Keria spent five years together at T1 from 2021 to 2025, anchoring a historic three Worlds wins in a row from 2023 to 2025. Gumayusi's free-agent move to Hanwha Life ended their partnership last offseason — but the national team brings it back less than a year later.
The selection followed a two-stage process. KeSPA's subcommittee first drew up a twenty-player shortlist before narrowing it to three to five candidates per position, based on regional regular league, KeSPA Cup and World Championship results across the last two years starting from 2024, alongside individual awards such as All-Pro Team selections and Player of the Game honours. Worlds was the only international tournament factored in — MSI, FST and EWC were all left out — and the 2026 regional leagues were counted up to the rounds completed before the entry submission deadline.
The final six were then chosen on the basis of more granular individual data — KDA, solo kills, kill participation, champion pool, damage share, DPM, DPG, GDPM, 14CSD, 14DPG, team gold and damage share, vision score, plus role-specific metrics for jungle, bot and support — alongside team composition considerations and one-on-one interviews to confirm each player's willingness to participate.
The candidate list will now move through the appeal and final approval stages, per the national team selection and operation regulations. KeSPA has set the formal appeal window from May 18 to May 28.
The roster could also have implications beyond Nagoya. KeSPA is Korea's National Team Partner for the Esports Nations Cup, and Hirai had also been appointed earlier this year as the country's head coach for the event. All participating nations were required to lock and submit their rosters to the ENC for review by May 10 — eight days before this announcement — making it likely the same six players will represent Korea at the Riyadh tournament too.
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