2023 LEC Roster Announcement

After much anticipation, we’re beyond thrilled to finally introduce our LEC Roster for the 2023 season (Pending Riot Approval). Adding onto the impressive and proven core we built last year with Wunder, Razork and Humanoid, we’re excited to introduce a number of changes to the team in particular, new additions to our bot-lane and coaching staff in Berlin.

Firstly, we’re beyond excited to announce Ruben ‘Rhuckz’ Barbosa’s promotion to the main squad as our newest Support. Displaying an impressive, albeit brief, showing in Worlds 2022 where he stood in for our first Play-In games vs Evil Geniuses and The Chiefs, Rhuckz has already displayed he is extremely capable of contending with the worlds best on the big stage. Ruben has the drive and enthusiasm in spades and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team.

After serving our academy programme so faithfully and expressing a huge determination to grow and develop as a player, Rhuckz has put on repeated show stopping performances in both the Superliga and NLC. We’re proud to finally bring him to the highest level of League of Legends with us. Rhuckz also brings along with him a contagious personality which we’re certain you’ll grow to love as much as we do. We’re excited to see what he can do alongside the squad once again, particularly with the new additions to the bot-lane and coaching staff.

Rhuckz isn’t the only arrival from our Academy Roster however, we’ve also promoted Gonçalo "Crusher" Pinto Brandão to the Head Coach position as we approach the 2023 season. Working with the Fnatic TQ squad since January 2022, Crusher has helped the team lift their first trophy in Spring, where they dominated the regular season with a 16-2 record, and lifted the SuperLiga Trophy following a 3-0 win vs Bisons. We’re excited for Crusher to bring his wide knowledge base and capable skillset over to Berlin and to help push our most elite squad to their highest potential. Joining Crusher, and our existing Strategic Coach Shaves is Hiiva, who will serve as the team's assistant coach for the year. A former professional support turned coach, Hiiva brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the squad and will work closely with the team to up our game in every possible aspect.

Our new bot laner needs no introduction. After 2 years apart, we’re proud to welcome Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson back to where it all started. Martin previously served with us as early as 2012, and has played amongst many of the highest performing and successful rosters we’ve ever fielded in the Rift. An absolute powerhouse on the bot-lane, he enters the team with a renewed drive and hunger for the game; his personal goals align with what we are looking to achieve in 2023 and we’re confident on what comes next. We know long standing fans of the Black & Orange will be extremely thrilled by this announcement, and we hope that the legacy behind the name will become obvious to all who have joined in more recent months. Martin’s return also sees him back on the LEC stage following a year with Karmine Corp, where he helped the LFL squad lift the Spring EU Masters Trophy.

We know it’s been a highly anticipated wait for the announcement, and we don’t want to keep you waiting any longer to see this all in action. Along with our Fnatic TQ squad, the 2023 roster will take to the stage tomorrow evening to face off with KOI in a pre-LEC showmatch at Gamergy, Madrid. We’ll begin the evening with a presentation from Javi ‘Dardo’ Zafra, where more questions on the roster and our 2023 season will be answered. We hope you can join us for what will be an extremely memorable evening, and the start of a blooming rivalry with KOI. You can catch the action starting from 7:30PM CET over on Caedrel’s stream (twitch.tv/caedrel)

2023 looks to be an extremely exciting year for Fnatic League of Legends, with dozens of narratives, stories and rivalries soon to unfold on and off the stage. With a revised LEC schedule, you’ll see more of us than ever. Through our consistent coverage and content of the team, we hope you’ll join us for the ride, as we aim for the LEC trophy lifts, and more, once again.