The Asian Games are a continental multi-sport event for athletes of Asia. They are organized every four years and have been held a total of 18 times since the first edition in 1951. The 2026 Asian Games will be hosted by Japan and will be the third time that the country has done so, following Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The mascot of the 2026 Asian Games, designed by artist and designer Sachiya Ochia, is a bright sun in red with 16 rays that represents a positive future and the spirit of the athletes.
During the recent Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) executive board meeting, it was confirmed that the OCA will organize the esports competition at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya. There will be 11 medal-contending esports titles, including Arena of Valor Asian Games Version and DOTA 2, as well as popular titles such as PUBG and League of Legends.
In addition, eFootball will make its debut at the 2026 Asian Games and is expected to be very competitive with the strong performance of Chinese teams in this discipline. Meanwhile, India is positioned to challenge for medals in a number of the esports categories. Pavan Kampelli won bronze in eFootball at the Hangzhou Asian Games and the S8UL team has been competing in major global tournaments.
The OCA’s organising committee is working to cut costs while preparing for the Games, which will be held in September and October next year and feature 40 sports and 15,000 athletes and team officials. To do so, the organisers have decided to use cruise ships docked at the Nagoya Port as the ‘floating’ Athletes’ Village rather than constructing a permanent building.