In 2023, the European Championship of League of Legends (LEC) will no longer have the same face. This Wednesday, Team Heretics announced on its Twitch channel to buy the place of the Misfits Gaming club in the championship. This change will take effect next season, at the start of 2023.
Through this operation, Misfits will leave the competitive scene of LoLwhich therefore also includes the French Championship (LFL), where the team will play its place in play-offs this Wednesday evening and tomorrow. The club will release its players after the end of this season, but will keep a minority share in the LEC spot.
Present in the European league since 2016, Misfits Gaming was one of the first ten teams to join the European Championship (LEC), a new format borrowing a closed model, when it was created in 2019. Despite mixed results in recent years, few clues suggested a sale of the place by the club.
The amount of the buyout has not been disclosed, but considering the sales figure for Schalke 04 last season (bought for 26.5 million euros by Team BDS, against 8 million entry price in 2019), the club could realize a substantial capital gain thanks to this operation. According to the sources of Blix media, the negotiations would have started at 45 million euros. The place would have been finally sold for approximately 35 million.
Spain to conquer the league
Present on four titles, the Spanish club Team Heretics (which includes an entirely French team on the shooting game Counter Strile: Global Offensive) was co-founded in 2016 by content creator David “Grefg” Martinez. He had made his comeback on the competitive scene of League of Legends this year by buying the place of Cream Real Betis in the Spanish Championship (LVP SuperLiga). Former competitor Jorge “Werlyb” Moreno-Torres accompanies this team as an ambassador.
The club brings together a substantial community of fans, in particular thanks to the influence of its co-founder Grefg. A streaming showcase for the Spanish-speaking community, the latter has published several books and is the first Spaniard to have broken the record for simultaneous views on the Twitch platform, with more than two million viewers in 2021.
Lots of lusts
According to our information, the French club Karmine Corp and its Spanish rival KOI inquired with Misfits Gaming in order to take their place, but it was ultimately Heretics who won the bet.
These three clubs have in common a meteoric rise and a community of ultras of the ilk of so-called traditional sport, in large part thanks to its co-founders who are important figures in the industry. In this sense, the arrival of Team Heretics in the LEC is a further symbol of the development of interest in sports clubs driven by personalities rather than pure and simple performance.
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