Hanwha Life Esports is the latest LCK team to qualify for the Esports World Cup 2026 through the Korean online qualifiers.
HLE swept Dplus Kia 3-0 to secure their place at the $2 million League of Legends tournament taking place later this Summer.
This comes a day after T1 qualified for the EWC after defeating Dplus Kia in the qualifiers too.
Now, HLE’s attention will be on qualifying for the LoL Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) in the LCK Playoffs.
HLE’s Road to the Esports World Cup
HLE had dropped into the Lower Bracket of the Korean EWC LoL Qualifiers after losing 2-1 to Dplus Kia thanks to an inspired performance from Jeon ‘Siwoo’ Si-woo.
But HLE didn’t drop a game in the qualifiers after that, sweeping HANJIN BRION, Nongshim RedForce, then Dplus.
HLE dominated the series and dealt with everything their opponents threw at them.
In Game 2, Dplus heavily targeted HLE’s bot-lane, but Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyung absorbed pressure well while his toplaner Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je crushed his match-up.
However, it was HLE Kim ‘Zeka’ Geon-woo who was given the series MVP after going deathless in two of the three games.
After cruising through the first two matches, Zeka decided to have some fun and lock in the first Fizz in pro play since 2019.
He then proceeded to 8/0/10 with a fully stacked Mejais and helped his team end the game in a 25-minute stomp.
Esports World Cup Qualified Teams
T1 and HLE will be joined at EWC by the reigning champions Gen.G, who received an automatic invite for winning last year.
There will then be a fourth LCK team, which will either be the LCK Road to MSI Playoff champions or Dplus if one of T1, HLE, or Gen.G win.
In fact, every region’s Spring champions will be invited, along with the top teams from the online qualifiers.
From the LPL, Anyone’s Legend and JDG have already secured their places through China’s online qualifiers.
In the Americas, Sentinels won the North America Qualifier while Brazil is still hosting its event.
Meanwhile, Europe’s two qualifier spots have been secured by Karmine Corp and MSI-qualified G2 Esports.
And APAC’s first representative has been confirmed as Team Secret (dropping the Whales branding to help Secret in the Club Championship).
Who do you think is the current favourite to win the LoL championship at the Esports World Cup? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And see the controversial South Korean LoL team for the 2026 Asian Games.
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