The highest League of Legends tournament in the country of over a billion seems to be facing one obstacle after another. Having to play online after nearly two months of delay due to the pandemic was already a significant disadvantage, and now an allegation of match-fixing discovered by the Rogue Warriors team has further tarnished the tournament’s image in the eyes of viewers.
Specifically, early this morning, according to Vietnam time, the Rogue Warriors team posted an announcement on the team’s Weibo page stating that they had terminated the contract with jungler Weiyan after discovering that he had “seriously violated the rules and discipline.”
“Rogue Warriors team announces disciplinary action
Our internal investigations have determined that player Wang Xiang (id: WeiYan) during the Spring 2020 LPL season has seriously violated the team’s rules and discipline.
In this matter, the team has maintained a zero-tolerance policy and has terminated the “Player Contract” with Wang and submitted related documents to the LPL tournament organizers.
After a year of continuous reminders and warnings, some individuals still choose to ignore the rules, leading to serious consequences. We once again remind our players to be aware that they are not permitted to violate the rules of the team and the tournament. We will also conduct further internal investigations and promise to identify anyone who has directly or indirectly participated in the violations.
After this announcement was made, player Weiyan also spoke out to explain the team’s decision, stating that he deserved to have his contract terminated. He recounted that during the tournament’s hiatus, he played cards with friends and lost a considerable amount of money, prompting him to borrow money from someone under the condition that he would participate in match-fixing and receive a deposit. Weiyan agreed but did not receive any money.
Although Weiyan swears that he never intentionally threw games or lost on purpose to receive money, the lender used his name to defraud others, severely impacting the reputation of the Rogue Warriors team specifically and the LPL in general.
This is not the first time a player from the LPL has been investigated for match-fixing behavior. Last summer, player Condi and the manager of LGD Gaming were banned from competing and participating in League of Legends-related activities for varying lengths, from 18 months to a lifetime ban, after the LPL organizers uncovered match-fixing directly linked to the management of LGD at that time.
In Weiyan’s case, he has not actually thrown games or intentionally lost in the Rogue Warriors matches or accepted money for match-fixing, as he claims. Therefore, there is a possibility that he may only face a fine or a short-term suspension. Nevertheless, that remains speculation, and the final decision will definitely depend on the LPL organizers’ announcement.