The 2026 League of Legends Championship Series season will mark a historic shift in the league’s composition. For the first time since the LCS launched in 2013, players from South Korea will outnumber those born in North America.
Korean nationals now account for approximately 43% of all active LCS players heading into the new season. Meanwhile, players born in the United States and Canada combined make up roughly 33% of the player pool.
This marks the peak of a decade-long trend in how North American teams source their talent. What’s changed most dramatically isn’t just the total number of imports, but where those imports come from.
Teams have shifted away from recruiting European players and are now pulling heavily from South Korea’s LCK Challengers League. The second-tier Korean competition has become a primary talent pipeline for LCS organizations looking for mechanically skilled players at lower cost than established stars.
Several factors are driving this change. North America’s solo queue population has shrunk dramatically over the years and is now smaller than even Europe’s smaller EUNE server. This limits the pool of potential homegrown talent.
The economics also favor Korean imports. LCS minimum salary of $75,000 represents significant earning power for players who couldn’t secure spots in the top-tier LCK, while North American players often command higher salaries due to cost of living differences.
When “North American” became optional
The LCS has relied on imports since its early years. The 2014 season featured LMQ, an entirely Chinese roster that barely spoke English but qualified through the NA Challenger system. TSM’s franchise player through most of its dominant era was Danish mid laner Bjergsen. The beloved 2019 Team Liquid superteam that reached MSI finals featured just two North American players.
But those lineups still operated in a league where players born in the U.S. and Canada formed the majority. The trend has even reversed in some cases. North American players like Jojopyun and Busio have moved to Europe’s LEC in recent years, winning championships there. The pipeline that once brought European stars to NA is now flowing both directions.
NA’s most successful international results came during years when the league featured imports but still maintained a stronger North American core. The region has never won a World Championship despite increasing its reliance on foreign talent over time, but 2026 might change this trend.
