Look, let us be honest for a moment. The regular season of the 2026 School League, which happens to be the first institutionalised school league in esports, is officially kicking off on Wednesday, September 2.

The league operates in a school-versus-school format, cleverly making use of existing esports infrastructure like school practice rooms. Students can train as a team and stack up regular match experience right inside the school grounds without needing any fancy external training facilities. Plus, every participating team consists of official school representatives approved by the principal.

This setup gives aspiring pro students a solid chance to balance their studies while racking up regular league experience, prepping them nicely for the pro stage and nationwide official tournaments. Back in the pre-season run, Eunpyung Meditech High School took home the crown in both League of Legends and Valorant, while Korea Game Science High School grabbed the top spot in PUBG. Most notably, the League of Legends winners from Eunpyung Meditech High School secured a spot in the second-half LCK Academy Series (LCK AS) Academy League, paving a clear road for school representative teams to step right into the pro development pipeline.

The regular season of the 2026 School League is scheduled to run for nine weeks, starting on Wednesday, September 2 and wrapping up on Wednesday, November 18. After that, the ultimate champion school will be decided through the national finals of the National Middle and High School Esports Tournament, set to take place over a two-day weekend on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13. Matches kick off every Wednesday at 5:30 PM, and you can catch them live via the official middle and high school esports YouTube channel. You can watch the live broadcast right here:

The format for the regular season varies depending on the title. For League of Legends, 9 teams will battle it out in a single-group double round-robin format. Valorant features 12 teams split into 2 groups, running a double round-robin format per group. Meanwhile, PUBG will run a total of 36 matches across 9 weeks with 4 matches each week, determining the final standings based on accumulated points.

You can check out all the gritty details regarding the tournament over at the official school esports SNS. Best of luck to everyone involved!