The League of Legends KeSPA Cup has been revived after a three-year hiatus. More importantly, since this tournament is related to the selection criteria for the LoL national team for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, it heralds an unprecedentedly fierce competition.
However, the result was unexpected. As soon as the game started, the tension dropped. Naturally, the fans' attention had to be reduced. There is a reason why the rest of the games, except for the semi-finals and finals (December 7-8), were held online.
Some people have raised various questions. Regarding the timing, the competition was held right after the transfer period ended, which gave the teams insufficient time to prepare. In addition, even if they competed with the strongest main lineup, it would still be insufficient because it was not a complete lineup. Some people also criticized why the competition for the 2026 Asian Games national team selection should be held in 2024.
In response, the organizer, the Korea E-Sports Association, acknowledged that the teams had different positions and that there were shortcomings, but made it clear that "the competition schedule is not a situation that can be postponed."
A person related to the association said: "It will take some time to regain the atmosphere of the past after three years. However, it is more important to hold the competition again, so we attach more importance to starting it." He also said: "The time of the competition has been postponed because of the transfer period, and the season will start directly in January from next year, so there is not enough time. The time can only be set at this time to avoid events such as award ceremonies. It is too difficult to arrange the schedule."
In addition, considering that Riot Games inspects the competition servers in mid-December every year for regular server management and maintenance, the schedule can only be postponed.
He also explained, "Originally, there was a proposal to hold the KeSPA Cup in September. If the tournament is moved forward, the teams and players participating in the LoL World Finals may not be able to participate. It is also unfair to not be able to participate in the Asian Games because of participating in the World Championship, so the schedule was formulated based on various considerations."
In response to questions about why the selection criteria for the national team for the 2026 Asian Games have already begun, he emphasized, "It is necessary to hold competitions hosted by sport groups to select national team players so that we can get the support of the Korea Sports Association when we participate in the Asian Games. Processes like the KeSPA Cup are important competitions to establish a system, just like the national team selection competitions for general sports."
He continued, "Players who participate in the KeSPA Cup will qualify for the Asian Games. In addition, our country will directly enter the main competition of the Hangzhou Asian Games, but there are expected to be qualifiers for the 2026 Asian Games. The purpose is to select players who will participate in the qualifiers next year. In addition, next year's e-sports World Cup is likely to be a national competition instead of a team competition. So this time it also includes the selection of national team players participating in the event. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate indicators for selecting national representatives."
It is clear that this KeSPA Cup will be used as a major indicator to select players wearing the Tai Chi logo for next year's Asian Games qualifiers and the e-sports World Cup. Although it is true that the tension has decreased, as a professional player and as a team, you must go all out in any game, and this remains unchanged.
