Honor of Kings lanserar ny global e-sportliga 2026

Level Infinite has announced major changes to the structure of Honor of Kings regional leagues for the 2026 competitive season.

The key innovation will be the creation of the interregional Honor of Kings Major League (KML). It will unite three existing tournament series — WKS, KMW, and KME.

In addition, the developers have updated the rules for team roster formation. The goal of the changes is to make competition more balanced and to give local players more opportunities to showcase themselves on the international stage.

According to the official statement, alongside KML, four national leagues will continue in 2026: Indonesia Kings League (IKL), Philippines Kings League (PKL), Malaysia Kings League (MKL), and the Brazilian league CHOKBR.

As a result of the reform, tournaments such as the Wildcard Kings Series (Southeast Asia excluding Thailand and Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Macau), Major West League (Europe, CIS, Turkey, and the combined Americas), and Major East League (Korea, Japan, South Asia, and the MENA region) have been merged into a single global league — KML.

Level Infinite also announced that professional teams from Macau and Hong Kong will once again participate in the esports ecosystem of mainland China.

These steps are part of Honor of Kings’ long-term strategy to develop a global esports scene. Ultimately, the number of leagues in Level Infinite’s global ecosystem will decrease from seven to five.

At the same time, the franchise-based King Pro League (KPL), which is based in China, will continue to operate.

Team Roster Rules for the 2026 Season

Alongside changes in the tournament structure, Level Infinite has released updated roster requirements for the 2026 season.

Each team must have at least five and no more than seven players. Registration of one esports athlete who is not a resident of the team’s home region is also allowed.

At the same time, the roster must include at least two players who are citizens of the country the team represents, and the total number of residents from the corresponding region must be at least four.

In 2025, Honor of Kings became the most popular mobile esports discipline and one of the most popular esports disciplines overall.