For professional athletes, purchasing insurance for their “money-making” body parts is no longer a foreign concept. In fact, the value of insurance packages for top stars like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi can reach hundreds of millions of USD. For esports players, this has also been a concern for many teams for quite some time, especially for irreplaceable pillars. In this case, it is T1 and Faker.
As is known, in recent days, Faker has had to temporarily pause all competitive activities and livestreaming due to injury. It wasn’t until the morning of July 19 (Vietnam time) that fans discovered he had started playing some matches in ARAM mode again. This is a casual game mode but can also be used for players to practice skills for new champions. Faker didn’t play much (about 5 matches), but it’s enough for the audience to believe that he will return soon.
However, with Faker’s return date still unclear, some fans recalled a detail closely related to Faker’s injury. Specifically, many T1 fans remembered that in July 2020, T1 signed a long-term partnership agreement with Hana Bank. In fact, T1 also renamed the first floor of their headquarters to “Hana OneQ-T1 Hall of Fame.” Additionally, T1’s jerseys will feature the Hana Bank logo.
Notably, according to South Korean media reports, Hana Insurance (Hana Bank’s insurance program) has mentioned that they will plan a new insurance package specifically for T1’s famous players, such as “Faker’s right arm insurance.” Accordingly, if anything happens causing Faker’s right arm to be injured, T1 will receive an insurance payout of up to 1 billion won (approximately 18.5 billion VND).
For esports players in general and League of Legends in particular, hand injuries are no longer a surprising occurrence. Such insurance packages will be a solution for both teams and players when hand issues arise due to play. According to many opinions, T1 and Faker may have started discussing this insurance package after their legendary captain began his temporary break due to injury.