From October 15 to November 14, the United States will host the biggest esports event of the year — Worlds 2026. Among the 95 players from 19 teams traveling to Los Angeles, Allen, and New York to challenge the reigning three-time world champions, T1, 21 esports athletes will be making their tournament debut. These young talents will have to face off against scene veterans, including Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok, for whom this World Championship will be the eleventh of his career.
A new generation of AD carries is drawing special attention at this year's tournament. In the EMEA region, the standout debutant is 20-year-old French botlaner Caliste. He heads to Worlds already boasting international success thanks to outstanding performances at last year's First Stand and this year's Esports World Cup. Debuting from the Korean LCK is the Dplus KIA botlane duo of Smash and Career, who also have an EWC trophy under their belt. In the Chinese LPL, JiaQi is showing great potential on the Invictus Gaming roster, while the Brazilian region will see Duduhh from LOS and Ayu from FURIA stepping onto the world stage for the first time.
Due to incredibly fierce competition for the midlane position in South Korea—home to established legends and world champions—some young talents are finding their footing in other leagues. In the Play-In stage, Korean midlaners Loki (Cloud9) and kyeahoo (Karmine Corp) will battle for a spot in the main event, meaning they will have to knock each other out of the tournament. Two more players in this position will make their debut in the main stage: Pout, who was instrumental in the summer resurgence of CTBC Flying Oyster, and Saint from the LYON team.
The full list of players debuting at Worlds 2026:
LCS
- Park "Thanatos" Seung-gyu
- Lee "Loki" Sang-min
- Kang "Saint" Sung-in
LEC
- Kang "kyeahoo" Ye-hoo
- Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert
LCP
- Ngô "Kratos" Đức Khánh
- Võ "Chika" Lê Nhân
- Nguyễn "Harky" Văn Hữu
- Nguyễn "SiuLoong" Hoàng Lam
- Han "Pout" In-woong
LPL
- Wang "Zhuo" Xu-Zhuo
- Zi "JiaQi" Jia-Qi
LCK
- Shin "Smash" Geum-jae
- Oh "Career" Hyeong-seok
CBLOL
- Kim "Zest" Dong-min
- Raí "Curse" Yamada
- Jeong "Feisty" Seong-hoon
- Francisco "Duduhh" Queiroz da Silva
- Pedro "Tatu" Seixas Brito
- Arthur "Tutsz" Peixoto Machado
- Andrey "Ayu" Saraiva
As a reminder, Faker Takes Center Stage in Worlds 2026 Anthem — Know My Name