Philippine Esports Organization Executive Director Marlon Marcelo hailed SIBOL’s successful qualification campaign, after the national esports team secured six berths to the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
That capped off a grueling stretch that tested not only the country’s athletes but also the federation’s operations behind the scenes.
SIBOL completed one of the most demanding qualification campaigns in its history, successfully navigating simultaneous tournaments in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam to send six teams to the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya.
The Philippines will be represented in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Honor of Kings, Naraka: Bladepoint, Puyo Puyo Champions, Pokémon UNITE, and Identity V after falling just short of qualifying in PUBG Mobile.
SIBOL narrowly missed a clean sweep after its PUBG Mobile squad finished just one point shy of advancing to the final round, losing the last playoff spot to Jordan via tiebreaker.
“Within expectations naman. We wanted all seven disciplines to qualify, but unfortunately, we fell short in PUBG Mobile by a very slim margin of just one point,” Marcelo said.
“The job’s not finished, but I want to commend our SIBOL national team executives — sina Jab, Jeff, at Coach Ralph — for doing their best and making sure we qualified in six of the seven game titles.”
The final weekend of qualifiers saw SIBOL’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Honor of Kings squads secure their spots in Nagoya through tournaments in Singapore and Malaysia, respectively. On the other hand, the PUBG Mobile team competed in Vietnam and came within a point of extending the country’s qualification sweep.
Beyond the results, Marcelo said the simultaneous staging of qualifiers in three different countries presented an unprecedented logistical challenge for the federation.
“In one weekend, we had to cater to three different qualifiers in three different countries,” Marcelo said.
To support the simultaneous campaigns, PESO organized three separate delegations, each led by its own head of delegation and backed by dedicated support staff. That ensured that every national squad received the attention and resources it needed throughout the qualifiers.
“Normally kasi, sa isang bansa lang ginaganap kung may multiple game titles. So all of your executives and support staff will be concentrated in just one country. Ngayon, you have three different countries so na-stretch talaga tayo in terms of manpower,” Marcelo added.
“We were able to manage it naman with the support of our executives. May mga lumipad din na PESO executives to reinforce the campaigns ng ating mga SIBOL national teams.”
Despite the logistical demands, Marcelo said the federation successfully carried out the operation without any major setbacks.
“Logistically, there were challenges with hotels and flights, but overall, everything went smoothly. We didn’t encounter any major incidents,” he said.
He also expressed his gratitude to everyone who helped ensure the athletes were well taken care of throughout the qualifiers, from coordinating their travel and accommodations to providing their competition uniforms.
With the qualification phase complete, Marcelo said SIBOL is now shifting its full attention to preparations for the Asian Games, where the federation hopes to convert its successful qualification campaign into podium finishes.
“We’re looking forward to at least a medal or two in the Asian Games, to be honest. Yung isa, alam na nating lahat. So we’re preparing dun sa isa pang hopeful game categories natin,” Marcelo concluded.
“Siyempre, we wanted na kung kaya, anim na medals out of the six. But we also have to have a realistic expectation. I hope na I be proven wrong. Kung sakali, edi anim na medals, edi ang saya nun para sa atin.”
While acknowledging that sweeping all six events would be an ideal outcome, Marcelo remains optimistic that the country’s representatives have what it takes to contend for multiple medals when the Asian Games begin in Nagoya later this year.
Marcelo also credited the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, and PESO’s partners and sponsors — including Smart, Arena Social PH, TV5, and Cignal — for their invaluable support throughout the qualification campaign, saying their assistance was instrumental in helping SIBOL secure six berths to the 2026 Asian Games.
