After spending almost a decade in the competitive League of Legends scene, one of Europe’s most established esports organizations is stepping away for good.
Schalke 04 has announced it will be leaving the professional League space, and will instead be focusing on its efforts in the FC 2024 scene. This falls in line with the team’s new focus on its core business of football, but it is still a bitter sight for many longtime LEC supporters that have seen the organization through its greatest moments in the league.
Former Schalke 04 top laner and current GIANTX star Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu voiced his sadness around the official announcement, saying that he had plenty of memories from his rollercoaster of a time with the team. The 29-year-old veteran did, however, say the club “was so passionate and dedicated, and it’s sad to see it go.”
It also didn’t help that Schalke 04’s soccer team was relegated from the Bundesliga, the top division of professional soccer in Germany, forcing the team to sell the LEC slot to Team BDS for a whopping €26.5 million. Now, it seems like the team is honing its efforts within the esports scene, closing up shop on anything that isn’t soccer-related.
Schalke 04 is most-known for its time in the EU LCS and LEC from 2016 to 2021, having reached the finals once in 2018 against Fnatic. The organization wasn’t, however, able to attend any major international tournaments, but did have an all-time LEC moment when it made a wild miracle run during the 2020 Summer Split.
After starting off the split with only a single win through 11 games, the team looked like a surefire elimination from playoff contention during the sixth week of the season. After an incredible stretch of games, however, the roster managed to win 10 straight to get themselves into the playoffs and in range of the 2020 World Championship.
Unfortunately, they would run into a dominant MAD Lions roster that sent them home after four games, but the organization had already etched itself into history—and into the hearts of League fans around the world.
