Ahead of the inaugural Esports Nations Cup later this year, various countries have confirmed most of the coaches that will lead their esports rosters.
The Esports Nations Cup will feature a $45m investment for teams, as countries compete for national glory across 16 different titles.
So far, coaches have been confirmed for nine titles in:
- Dota 2
- Honor of Kings
- ML:BB
- PUBG
- PUBG: Mobile
- Rainbow Six
- Rocket League
- Valorant
That leaves Apex Legends and Counter-Strike 2 amongst the titles still awaiting coach announcements.
Headline Esports Nations Cup Coach Choices
South Korea will be heavy favourites to win the League of Legends World Championship, but made a surprising coach choice.
Five-time LoL World Champion Kim ‘kkOma’ Jeong-gyun would have been expected to take the role, but Kkoma stepped down as T1 coach for a temporary leave of absence earlier this year.
Instead, KeSPA has opted for former KT Rolster coach Kang ‘Hirai’ Dong-hoon, who hasn’t been active since 2024.
Meanwhile, Great Britain has confirmed James ‘Mac’ MacCormack as LoL head coach.
He will have a difficult job with limited roster choices, especially as Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont declined the chance to come out of retirement.
Other notable LoL coach choices are Dylan Falco for Canada, Jakob ‘YamatoCannon’ Mebdi for Sweden, and Alfonso ‘Mithy’ Aguirre Rodríguez for Spain.
As for Valorant, USA has opted for G2 Esports coach Josh ‘JoshRT’ Lee, while South Korea has Kim ‘SilKanoN’ Gyeong-min, coach of Masters Santiago 2026 champions Nongshim RedForce.
Meanwhile, despite leading NRG to win Valorant Champions 2025, Malkolm ‘bonkar’ Rench will not be the coach for Sweden. Instead, it will be 100 Thieves coach Erik ‘d00mbr0s’ Sandgren.
And France has opted for MIBR assistant coach Vincent ‘Happy’ Schopenhauer rather than Paper Rex coach Alexandre ‘alecks’ Sallé.
How do you feel about your country’s chances at the Esports Nations Cup? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And see all 100+ national team partners at the Esports Nations Cup 2026.
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