Vietnamese esports team Secret Whales has claimed the 2026 League of Legends Championship Pacific title for the third straight season, defeating Chinese Taipei’s CTBC Flying Oyster in a commanding three games to none sweep in Taipei. The victory makes Secret Whales the first team in the tournament’s short history to win three consecutive regional championships, cementing their status as the dominant force in Asia Pacific League of Legends competition.
Playing in front of a passionate home crowd of nearly seven thousand fans at Taipei’s Heping Basketball Gymnasium, Secret Whales opened the best of five series with a convincing thirty three minute victory in the first game, building an early lead their opponents struggled to overcome. CTBC Flying Oyster fought back in the second game, taking control at several points and drawing loud support from the home crowd, but clutch plays from Secret Whales players Le Van Hoang Hai and Tran Duy Duc turned the tide and completed a dramatic comeback to push the Vietnamese team to match point.
The third and deciding game saw Secret Whales close out the series in decisive fashion, winning in twenty nine minutes to secure the title outright. The victory completed a dominant season for the team, who captured all three regional split titles across the year and qualified for every major international tournament held in 2026, an achievement that speaks to their consistency across an entire competitive season rather than a single standout performance.
With this championship, Secret Whales earns the right to represent the Asia Pacific region as the top seeded team at the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, scheduled to take place in the United States this October. The team had already secured its spot at the World Championship earlier in the season by topping the group stage of regional competition, but continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the year rather than easing off after clinching qualification.
Jungler Le Van Hoang Hai, known by his competitive name Hizto, earned the Finals Most Valuable Player award for his standout performance throughout the championship series. Speaking after the match, the eighteen year old credited his approach of exploiting moments when opponents least expected pressure, describing his contributions as a series of well timed plays rather than any single dramatic moment that decided the outcome.
Team Secret Whales formed in December of 2024 following a merger between two existing Vietnamese esports organizations, Team Whales and Team Secret. In just over a year and a half since that merger, the team has risen from a modest debut season ranking to become the undisputed top program in the entire Asia Pacific region, a rapid ascent that has drawn significant attention within the global League of Legends competitive scene.
The team’s rise has been credited in part to a broader culture of dedication and collaboration developing among competitive gaming talent across Vietnam. Players and coaches within the Vietnamese esports scene have pointed to a distinctive regional playing style, one that emphasizes coordinated team fighting over individual mechanical skill or solo plays, as a key factor separating Vietnamese teams from other competitive regions across Asia.
As Secret Whales prepares for the upcoming World Championship, expectations within the Vietnamese esports community remain high following such a dominant regular season and playoff run. The team’s consistent excellence throughout 2026 has established them as legitimate contenders on the international stage, giving Vietnamese esports fans a genuine reason to believe their representatives could make a deep run at the sport’s most prestigious global tournament later this year.
