Sheep Esports reported that the Korea Electronic Sports Federation (Kespa) officially opened an application for bidding to select the city to host the MID-SEASON INVITAL (MSI) 2026 of League of Legends. In this notice, Kespa also announced the expected time of the tournament quite similar to MSI 2025.
Accordingly, the expected time for the event will take place from June 26 to July 12, 2026. In addition, the “Road to MSI” qualifying tournament is expected to be held from June 6 to June 14, 2026. The process of reviewing and selecting the MSI 2026 hosting location is expected to last until November 2025, at the same time of the World Championship and is expected to be announced immediately after the year -end tournament.
Previously, South Korea once hosted MSI in 2022. That year, the event was held at Busan and Royal Never Give Up to the championship after defeating T1 3-2 in the final. Although MSI once held once, South Korea has hosted 3 Worlds in 2014, 2018 and 2023. According to the plan, Korea will continue to host the Fourth World Finals by 2027.
Many predicts that the two cities of Seoul and Busan are the ideal MSI 2026 hosts. Besides MSI 2022, Busan has also organized matches many times in all three world finals held in Korea. Gwangju and Incheon were also hosted in the Worlds 2018, while Seoul held the First Stand 2025 event earlier this year.
In addition to the requirements of facilities, cities need to apply for a clear budget project, including financial support or artifact support (such as free renting, hotel supply, transportation means …). At the same time, cities also need to present in detail the plan to integrate entertainment, tourism and sideline events to maximize economic impacts and attract tourists.
It can be seen that the host of MSI 2026 is not only an opportunity to promote eSports, but also a large economic and tourism lever for any city chosen.
