New UK esports organisation Lionhearts won a League of Legends tournament at London’s Red Bull Gaming Sphere last weekend.
Six teams took part in the community competition and both of Lionhearts’ academy teams made it to the final, with one beating the other 3-2 in the final. Each player on the winning team took home 3,600RP.
Lionhearts owner Abdiqani ‘True Rambo’ Ahmed told Esports News UK that the side also finished second in a recent Belong Arenas tournament and third at Wanyoo’s League of Legends tournament.
They were aiming to reach the UKLC but unfortunately fell short in the Forge of Champions semi-finals both times around.
Bulldog and Darkspawn relegated from UKLC as newcomers emerge
Lionhearts have two academy teams and one first team.
True Rambo – who does play League of Legends but is more focused on helping the scene at an academy level – played as ADC in one of the Red Bull games.
He hinted at ‘big plans’ ahead for the org, with some exciting news potentially dropping soon.
Next up, the focus will be to take part in the next Forge of Champions tournament later in the summer, in a bid to qualify for the UKLC.
The players on the winning Lionhearts academy team at Red Bull were as follows:
- Top: Mohammed “precision” Usama
- Jungle: Thomas “Lovesick” Liu
- Mid: Ilvi “God Mid” Xhakaj
- ADC: Mealad “Halfway crook ” Ozen
- Support: Junior “Music Never Stops” McGrath
Congrats to the Lionhearts Academy players that came 1st and 2nd place in the #LeagueofLegends tournament held by @redbullesports at the #RedBullGamingSphereLondon! GGWP to everyone that played, some great #eSports action! pic.twitter.com/L6wRzhqEBf
— Lionhearts (@LionheartsUK) May 15, 2019
On taking part in the tournament, Music Never Stops said: “The best thing, aside from the red bull of course, is getting to meet the staff, other players and spectators and learn from the experience together.”
Halfway Crook added: “It was great having an area to relax and unwind after a game too – some of the others played FIFA on the couch.
“The tournament was competitive and we barely pulled a win against our sister team.”
You can see the final scoreline and player stats below:
Amidst all of the changes around UK League of Legends over the past year, it’s great to see more new teams and players emerging. Lionhearts, for now, may be ones to watch for the future.
News credit: Thanks to Megaloduntus for helping to arrange this article
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.
