T8
SF6
2XKO
CotW
GBVSR
MK1
SSBU
T7
DBFZ
BH
GGST
SC6
SG2E
KI
MVS
KoFXV
MBTL
SF5
MK11
The winner of Japan's latest World Warrior tournament, Hikaru, has been confirmed as the fourth and final member of the country's Street Fighter 6 team for the Esports Nations Cup.
The roster was already stacked with Blink Respawn 2025 champion Fuudo, Capcom Cup 12 winner Sahara, and one of Japan's Street Fighter 6 representatives at the All Asian Games, Higuchi. Hikaru completes the four-player lineup.
Japan is one of the nations that secured automatic qualification for the Esports Nations Cup alongside South Korea, the United States, Norway, England, China, Chile, France, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Canada, and Chinese Taipei. However, while the other automatically qualified nations had already finalized their rosters, Japan had to wait until the July 5 deadline, which coincided with the second World Warrior event, to determine its final representative.
Teams from the automatically qualified nations consist of four players. The first slot goes to the highest-ranked player on the World Warrior leaderboard at the qualification deadline, while the remaining three are awarded to the highest-ranked players on the Esports Nations Cup leaderboard.
Hikaru, who finished second at the first World Warrior event, claimed victory at the second tournament by defeating Jr. The win earned him 90 points, moving him to the top of the leaderboard and securing Japan's final roster spot.
Eleven additional countries have also qualified for the Esports Nations Cup and announced their rosters. One of the biggest surprises was Algeria securing a place, guaranteeing African representation at the inaugural event.