Excel narrowly miss out on LEC playoffs spot as Schalke complete miracle run

Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 28/05/2025

UK-based esports organisation Excel came agonisingly close to securing an LEC playoffs spot for the first time in their history.

The top six teams in the LEC standings reach the playoffs, and four of these qualify for the League of Legends World Championship (Worlds). Rogue, who finished top of the LEC summer standings, have automatically qualified for Worlds.

Excel beat Origen on Friday August 7th 2020 and it looked like they were all set to make playoffs.

But perhaps it wasn’t meant to be – Excel lost to Fnatic on Saturday and G2 on Sunday. Not only that, but a freak string of dominant performances by Schalke (beating Fnatic, Vitality and Mad Lions) saw the German org sneak into sixth place above Excel this weekend. They won seven games in a row.

To make the situation for the British org even more excrutiating, Excel actually tied Schalke in sixth place, with both teams winning eight games and losing ten.

However, this little rule from Riot Games meant that Schalke took the playoffs spot over Excel, based purely on their performances in the second-half of the season:

If two teams are tied, we look at the head-to-head between the two teams. If the H2H is identical for both teams (1-1) we look at total wins in the second half of the Split. If the amount of 2nd-half wins is also identical for both teams we play a best-of-1 tiebreaker game.

— Maximilian Peter Schmidt (@RiotMAXtheX) August 8, 2020

Excel can take pride in their performances this split. They showed newfound teamwork and resilience, and pulled off their best season yet, narrowly missing out on playoffs.

They’ve had four seasons in the LEC so far after Excel were officially accepted into the LEC back in late 2018.

Excel’s head of performance Fabian Broich delivered this emotional message after missing out on playoffs:

“We have really tried everything, I can tell you that… but it wasn’t enough. So we have to go again next year. And we’re never giving up,” he said.

“Thank you very much, keep your heads up and don’t be too sad. And if you are sad, just cry! I might have some tears in my eyes too and it’s healthy to get that out.

“Please support us next year, we will win more games than this split and will make sure we make playoffs – and maybe even more.”

Excel co-founders Kieran and Joel Holmes-Darby said:

The final standings for the LEC summer split 2020 are as follows, with the top six now moving to the playoffs stage:

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Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. 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 also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.

All Posts By Dom Sacco