UK-registered esports organisation Team 7am have announced their latest League of Legends roster for the Benelux Elite Series Spring 2023 Season.
The roster features a mix of Dutch and Swedish talent, with Zhergoth in the top lane, Noodle in the jungle, mid-laner Sahira, ADC Orre and support player Quicktimer.
Bjorn is also on board as head coach once again.
The organisation – a UK-registered business with operations in Belgium that’s spent a number of years in the Benelux scene – made the announcement in a Twitter video featuring the team in a classroom and the iCarly theme song, ‘Leave It All To Me’:
The Elite Series is the League of Legends EMEA Regional League for Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, as well as the Caribbean Dutch Islands, Aruba and Curacao). It’s a non-accredited ERL, like the UK and Nordics’ NLC.
Non-accredited leagues run with eight teams instead of ten, and have a four-team knockout stage, whereas accredited leagues use a six-team, double-elimination format. Non-accredited leagues also do not need an offline event.
Team 7am will compete with seven other teams in the Elite Series Spring 2023 Season, including Benelux United, Heet, KRC Genk Esports, Mcon Esports, Northern Lions, The Agency and Zennit.
Team 7am’s previous League of Legends roster, featuring Jaguar, Deletus, Zhii, Riron, Piggy and Rain, left last September after reaching the Elite Series summer 2022 playoffs.
Elsewhere, last month the NLC Division 1 teams were confirmed.
Team 7am director on the roster announcement and competing in the Elite Series over the NLC
Team 7am director John ‘WundA’ Smith-Howell told Esports News UK: “It’s always exciting to announce a new team, but more so to be able to go and create some fun and engaging content with the players.
“Spending time with the players who represent the brand is really important and also giving them the chance to meet each other, bond and build those important relations.
“We also took our UK CSGO team with us who spent most of their time boot camping. Hopefully this will give them a good starting boost to the year and helps them prep for upcoming competitions.”
So, why do Team 7am compete in Benelux and not the UK/Nordics NLC?
“From the very start of 7am our core team were apart of the Benelux, so it was a conscious decision for us to focus on that region,” John explained. “After less than a year of being a business we were accepted into the Benelux ERL.
“It hasn’t really crossed our minds about looking into any other region, our aim was always to become a recognised brand in our home region first. I believe we’ve achieved this, hence the move into the UK scene late last year and again our move into the NA CSGO scene just after.”
Related article: Quickfire interview with founder of Newvu Gaming Centre in Stevenage and Team 7am
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.
