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The worlds of esports and sports collided on the weekend as sports stars got involved with Worlds 2024, and winners T1 visited Spurs’ football stadium.
Korean League of Legends team T1 won the Worlds 2024 final on Saturday November 2nd as Faker secured his fifth title and 14,700 fans filled London’s O2 Arena to watch.
And the next day, on Sunday November 3rd, T1 players watched English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur (aka Spurs) beat Aston Villa 4-1 at Spurs’ Stadium in North London.
Spurs player and captain of the South Korean national football team, Son Heung-min (aka Sonny), has also been involved in some promotion around League of Legends recently, too.
He appeared in the below video on the official Riot Games channels, titled ‘From the Pitch to the Rift’.
Sonny spoke about his love of League of Legends in the video, including the fact that he started out playing in the jungle with champions like Lee Sin, Viego, Rammus and Vi, and plays on the Korean server online with his friends back home.
“I love playing video games. I’ve been playing League of Legends for close to five years.”
Son Heung-min, Spurs
“Initially, my friends made fun of me a lot, asking ‘what are you doing, you can’t even play League!’
“Because I’m the jungler, I have to be involved in many lanes and just kill the game if there’s the opportunity.
“It’s similar when I’m on the pitch, I’m a striker, if I have this opportunity, I have to score the goals.”
Son also said that T1 are his favourite esports team.
“We visited Korea with Spurs three years ago and saw [T1] after training, we took a picture with everybody, and I had a little bit of a connection with Faker,” he added.
“For me, he’s the greatest player in esports history and has kept his form for ten years. He is just incredible.”
The promotion was listed as a paid partnership on Sonny’s Instagram page.
Son also sent a message wishing good luck to T1 and BLG ahead of the Worlds final in London:
Son has been involved in other video game partnerships in the past, including being named ambassador in Pepsi’s EA Sports FC partnership.
And in 2021, Son Heung-min was added to PUBG as a playable character.
Roger Federer’s involvement with Worlds 2024
Son isn’t the only sports personality to be featured in some promotion around the Worlds 2024 finals in London.
Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer appeared in the below video by Mercedes-Benz, featuring him driving the Worlds trophy to the O2.
“The arena in London has a special place in my heart,” Roger Federer said. “My last professional tennis match, stunning atmosphere, a very emotional night. It was extraordinary to play one last time at the Laver Cup.
“Another big final coming to London this year is the League of Legends World Championship 2024,” Roger continued. “And this [a custom Mercedes-Benz electric G-Class vehicle] is the official [Worlds] trophy carrier.
“Winning the Summoner’s Cup is the ultimate goal of every League of Legends player. Let’s get this trophy to London.”
Other stars attended Worlds including rock band Linkin Park, who performed at the Worlds 2024 Opening Ceremony.
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.
