From SEA Games Gold to Asian Games Bronze: What Vietnam's League of Legends Medal Means

Đọc bằng tiếng Việt: LMHT Việt Nam giành HCĐ ASIAD 2026

Team Vietnam's League of Legends medallists in Aichi-Nagoya. Photo: VNG Games.

I've just flown home from Aichi-Nagoya, and I'm still taking it in. On 1 October 2026, Team Vietnam won a bronze medal in League of Legends at the 20th Asian Games. Three of our own were there in Vietnam's red: top laner Kiaya, support Taki, and GAM head coach Naul, who served as Team Vietnam's assistant coach.

I was proud just to be in the building. When I started GAM, esports in Vietnam was something you did in an internet café after school, often without your parents knowing. Last week I watched it share a program with swimming, athletics and football at Asia's biggest multi-sport event. Our players walked out under the flag, and the scoreboard read "Vietnam". I will never get tired of that.

A national team, built by Vietnamese clubs

Team Vietnam wasn't one club in a national jersey. It was built from three of them: GAM Esports, Team Secret Whale and MGN Vikings Esports. Players who fight each other all year in league play shared a bootcamp, a jersey and a goal.

That's the part of this medal I'm proudest of. Vietnamese esports grows fastest when we build it together.

The run

Vietnam won all three group games, against Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the UAE, and topped the group. Before the tournament, Kiaya told Tuổi Trẻ that the group opponents were "unknowns" and that "we cannot afford complacency", and the team played like it.

In the semi-final, Chinese Taipei beat us 2–0, after Vietnam led game one 12–3 in kills at 17 minutes. Chinese Taipei went on to the final, where South Korea took gold. Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, the two losing semi-finalists, both took bronze.

The League of Legends podium at Aichi Sky Expo. Photo: VNG Games.

I won't pretend the semi-final didn't hurt. Our players wanted more, and so did the fans. But I also watched Taki trade jerseys with Faker. I watched our boys stand on an Asian Games podium with medals around their necks. I know what that does for a kid in Hà Nội or Cần Thơ watching on their phone.

Friends on the podium

One of my favourite moments came after the medals, with Team Saudi Arabia, our group-stage opponents and fellow bronze medallists. It was great to see His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, Chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation and President of the International Esports Federation (IeSF), there with his team. We last saw him at the Esports World Cup in Paris. He keeps showing up for esports, and I love what Saudi Arabia is building: real stages, real investment, and real opportunities for players from every country, including ours.

With Team Saudi Arabia, fellow bronze medallists. GAM Chairman Randy Dobson is on the left.

Why this medal matters for Vietnam

Esports is a sport on Asia's biggest stage. The Asian Games are the largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympics, and esports is now a full medal sport there for the second Games in a row. When a Vietnamese team stands on that podium, every parent, school, sponsor and policymaker at home hears it: this is a real path, with a national flag at the end of it.

Vietnam belongs at this level. Asia has the strongest League of Legends nations on earth. A top-three finish says Vietnamese players, coaches and clubs can compete with them, and we intend to close the gap.

Medals are built years before the Games. This one started in club scrims, academies, league play and international trips. It took clubs, VIRESA, VNG and Riot Games, each doing their part.

From SEA Games 31 to Aichi-Nagoya

GAM has carried the flag before. In May 2022, at SEA Games 31 in Hà Nội, GAM represented Vietnam in League of Legends. We gave up our spot at the Mid-Season Invitational that year to do it. The team went 10–0 and swept the Philippines 3–0 in the final to win gold at home.

SEA Games 31 in 2022, Aichi-Nagoya in 2026. Image: VIRESA.

Four years later, the stage is bigger: SEA Games gold, then Asian Games bronze. We've been lucky enough to help bring League of Legends medals home for Vietnam at both. Representing your country is a privilege, and we never take it for granted.

Watch: Kiaya and Taki come home with an Asian Games medal (in Vietnamese).

Building 2027 together

Some of the most important hours in Nagoya were spent away from the stage. Alongside GAM Chairman Randy Dobson, we met with Riot Games, VIRESA (the Vietnam Recreational and Esports Association) and VNG to talk about Vietnamese esports in 2027. How do we keep developing players? How do we give fans more to cheer for? How do we keep Vietnam on international stages like this one?

With GAM Chairman Randy Dobson at Aichi Sky Expo.

For GAM, 2027 is a year to level up:

• More games. We're expanding beyond League of Legends and Arena of Valor, and building new teams to represent GAM and Vietnam in more titles.
• The world stage. We'll keep competing as an Esports World Cup Club Partner, chasing more moments like the ones we lived at the Esports World Cup this year.
• A home for the movement. Our League of Legends team is coming home from Taipei. We're rebuilding GAM HQ into one home for our teams, our media team and our commercial team, the people who tell our stories and the partners who fuel them.

Our mission has always been simple: Unite. Inspire. Level Up. Southeast Asia has a rising generation of a billion young people, and they deserve a movement of their own. It starts with Vietnam. A medal at the Asian Games is exactly the kind of moment that shows the next generation the world stage is within reach.

Thank you

To Naul, Kiaya and Taki: thank you for representing GAM and Vietnam with heart. To the players and staff from Team Secret Whale and MGN Vikings Esports: it was an honour to share a team with you. Thank you to VIRESA and VNG for building the national program, and to Riot Games for creating a game that can put a country on the podium.

And to the #GAMFAM, who set alarms for 7 a.m. matches, streamed every game and flooded every chat: this medal is yours too.

From yellow to gold, and now bronze for Vietnam. We're just getting started.

Watch more from the Games on our Watch page, read the full GAM journey on Our Story, and meet the roster on Teams.