ENC 2026 announces 700+ coaches, here are the biggest names

Rituraj Halder Published April 26, 2026

As the world gets ready for one of the biggest stages of professional gaming, the Esports Nations Cup (ENC) 2026, the Esports Foundation (EF) has confirmed over 700 coaches representing national teams of over 100 nations and territories in the tournament.

While the coaches have been named, the final rosters for the teams need to be locked in before May 10, 2026. The tournament is scheduled to happen in November 2026 in Riyadh.

Now that the head coaches are set, drawn from over 90 leading esports organizations around the world, they will take charge of identifying the ideal talents for their lineups and build their strategies.

National teams pull top coaches for the ENC 2026

The selection for the coaching roster has been incredibly in-depth as the massive list features both veteran and new talent who have an impeccable career as a player but are still green when it comes to coaching professional teams.

Some of the notable names include:

• Fabian Hällsten – Rainbow Six Siege (United States)
• Kang “Hirai” Dong-hoon – League of Legends (South Korea)
• Nicholas “Inero” Smith – League of Legends (United States)
• Dylan Falco – League of Legends (Canada)
• William “Blitz” Lee – Dota 2 (United States)
• Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi – League of Legends (Sweden)
• Alfonso “mithy” Rodríguez – League of Legends (Spain)
• Jonathan “Loda” Berg – Dota 2 (Sweden)
• Moin Ejaz (NO_Chanc3) – Dota 2 (India)
• Jake “Spawn” Tiberi – League of Legends (Australia)
• Gabriel “tockers” Claumann – League of Legends (Brazil)
• Abhishek Bajaj (GodspeedxD) – VALORANT (India)
• Võ “Naul” Thành Luân – League of Legends (Vietnam)
• Im “Panda” Chang-rok – Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (South Korea)
• Steve Vitug (Dale) – Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (India)
• Danusch “Arvindir” Fischer – League of Legends (Germany)
• Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek – League of Legends (Czechia)
• Rahul “Ayogi” – BGMI (India)
• Quentin “Zeph” Viguié – League of Legends (France)
• Shirou “Paz” Sasaki – League of Legends (Japan)
• Camila “Mia” Lopez – PUBG Mobile (Chile)

The appointed coaches’ list features not only talent of all ages but also of all demographics, as the list features a rising number of female coaches for multiple national teams, including Camila “Mia” López for Chile’s PUBG Mobile team, Angela “Kaylio” Sun Zhou taking the reins for Australia’s MLBB team, and more.

Despite all the hiccups, recent limitations, and concerns due to the geopolitical struggles, the preparations for ENC are still going strong, and in the upcoming days, the Esports Foundation will be announcing the remaining coaches as well as the competitors for both solo and team-based titles.

The selection for the competitors is slated to be done through full open qualifiers.

Featured image credit: Esports Foundation