German support player and ESL UK Premiership champion Arfan “Arphan” Omar has moved from UK organisation Team Infused to join Tornado Rox in the League of Legends Continental League (LCL).
The LCL is a new league for teams based in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes Russia, Armenia, Moldova, Kazakhstan and more.
It will have a prize pool of around $120,000 spread across two splits, according to The Score Esports.
Although teams will be given money to rent team houses, Arphan will not be relocating to Russia.
“I won’t play in the UK scene anymore,” Arphan told eSports News UK. “It’s not worth the effort.
“I won’t be moving to Russia. I mainly decided to play in the Russian LCS because of the money, while I’m looking to get better at the game to accomplish LCS.”
Arphan joined Team Infused earlier this year, and along with teammates Alphari, Maxlore, Charlietea and POILK, helped the side remain unbeaten during Season 2 of the ESL UK Premiership, with Infused eventually beating FM-eSports 3-0 in the grand final.
Arphan was also included in our list of 13 exciting players from the ESL UK Premiership.
He’s the latest to leave Team Infused, after jungler Maxlore left for Inspire Esports.
As part of Russia’s Tornado Rox team, Arphan will now play alongside German mid-laner Friedrich “Bebe” Knaub, as well as Russian players Ivan “FIRees” Silant’ev (top laner), Dmitriy “Dimajke” Hushcha (team captain jungler) and Valentin “NikSar” Zimakov (ADC).
Team captain Dimajke commented: “According to the tradition of our team, the new season brings a new composition – with Bebe and Arphan in the mid and support positions. I am sure that they will show good results.”
Other teams in the LCL include Hard Random, Natus Vincere, Vaevictis eSports, Team differential, Team Empire, Vega Squadron and Team Just.MSI.
The LCL Spring Split kicks off on January 16th.
“Since we opened the Moscow offices, players have asked us to make an LCS for our own region,” said Riot Games Russia CEO Alex Kraynov. “We are extremely pleased to offer our professional players and fans the official Riot Games format for our regional championship. We know that the Continental League will set new standards for cyber championships for the whole of the CIS.”
Thanks to James Fowler of LoL Esportspedia for the heads-up
Image credit: ESL | eslgaming.com, S.Choucino
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
