KeSPA has announced on Monday the 18th the final list of candidates to represent South Korea at the upcoming Summer Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, this September.

The 20th Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games features 11 eSports titles in total. South Korea will compete in 9 medal-contending events, specifically: ▲Fighting Games (Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, The King of Fighters XV), Pokémon UNITE, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile (Asian Games version), Identity V (Asian Games version), Gran Turismo 7, eFootball series, and Puyo Puyo Champions. Consequently, a total of 36 candidates have been selected for the national team pool.

These candidates were chosen through a rigorous selection process involving the KeSPA sub-committee’s performance evaluation and coaching staff recommendations, with final approval granted by the KeSPA Executive Committee.

For the Fighting Games (Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, The King of Fighters XV), 41 participants vied for the spots. The eventual winners who secured their candidate status were ▲'DakCorgi' Yeon Je-gil (Street Fighter 6, KT Rolster), ▲'KNEE' Bae Jae-min (Tekken 8, DRX), and ▲'MadKof' Lee Gwang-no (The King of Fighters XV).

Two teams participated in the team-based qualifier for Pokémon UNITE, with ▲T1 ('Seram' Kim Jae-young, 'Pisterio' Park Sung-soon, 'ePe' Lee Ji-hwan, 'Subeen' Jin Soo-bin, 'Comi' Jo Min-hyuk) taking the top spot.

Following the team qualifiers for Honor of Kings, ▲Nongshim RedForce ('illusion' Jo Seong-bin, 'HAKU' Han Ji-hoon, 'DOK' Lee Seop-gyu, 'Ratel' Jeong Yoon-ho, 'SIRI' Lee Hoon-min, 'Namu3' Han Seong-geon) finished first and were named candidates.

The League of Legends (LoL) candidates were determined based on a two-year performance record, including the KeSPA CUP and regional leagues, alongside individual accolades. A committee of coaches selected 20 registered players, followed by detailed role-based metric analysis and individual interviews to confirm their commitment.

The LoL candidate pool includes: ▲'Zeus' Choi Woo-je (Hanwha Life Esports), ▲'Canyon' Kim Geon-bu (Gen.G), ▲'Zeka' Kim Geon-woo (Hanwha Life Esports), ▲'Faker' Lee Sang-hyeok (T1), ▲'Gumayusi' Lee Min-hyung (Hanwha Life Esports), and ▲'Keria' Ryu Min-seok (T1) (listed in alphabetical order by position).

For PUBG Mobile, the final 5 players were selected from a shortlist of 10 after a thorough review of their domestic and international tournament records from the past two years, combined with performance evaluations.

The PUBG Mobile candidates are: ▲'FAVIAN' Park Sang-chul (Dplus KIA), ▲'XZY' Kim Jun-ha (Nongshim RedForce), ▲'HYUNBIN' Jeon Hyun-bin (Nongshim RedForce), ▲'NolBu' Song Soo-an (Dplus KIA), and ▲'chpz' Jeong Yu-chan (Dplus KIA).

In the Identity V team qualifier, three teams competed, with ▲Pororon ('Toulang' Hong Hyun-ki, 'PHR' Park So-yeon, 'Sol' Eo Hong, 'OvO' Kim Jae-yeon, 'nary' Kim Jun-seo, 'Gar2b' Go Tae-hyun, 'ApHD' Kim Sang-min) emerging as the top-ranked candidate team.

The Gran Turismo 7 qualifiers spanned two online stages and a final. From 117 initial participants, 24 advanced to the second stage, with 12 reaching the final. ▲Kim Young-chan (DCT Racing) secured the top spot and the candidate nomination.

The eFootball series qualifiers took place on Friday, April 3rd, and Saturday the 4th, with 7 participants for the mobile version and 17 for the PC version. The top players from each, ▲'DK__DK' Kim Do-gyeom (eFootball Mobile) and ▲'KOR_Ssong' Song Young-woo (eFootball PC), were selected.

For Puyo Puyo Champions, ▲'RED231' Kang Dong-shin, who won both the first and second KeSPA CUP expansion events, took first place to become the official candidate.

With this, the 36-man preliminary eSports national team pool is set. Official objections regarding these candidates can be submitted to KeSPA until the 28th by registered players, their guardians, coaches, or team management. Following final approval by the KeSPA President and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee’s performance committee in June, the final roster will be confirmed.

Additionally, the national teams for Identity V (Asian Games version) and Honor of Kings are scheduled to participate in the Asian Games regional qualifiers this June.

The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games eSports national team is supported by Disney+, Google Play, Hanwha Life, Goalstudio, Sidiz, Logitech G, Revion, and Photogray. Further details can be found on the KeSPA website.