At T1, the contracts of 4 players expire, will the world champion team stay together in 2025?

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Team T1 has dominated the international League of Legends scene for the past 3 years with the exact same constellation of 5 players: Faker, Zeus, Oner, Gumayusi and Keria. The CEO, Joe Marsh, enthuses: This is the best LoL squad of all time. But in 12 days 4 of the contracts expire. Fans are puzzling: Will the team stay together like this?

This is the situation: The current T1 squad has been playing together in this form since 2022:

  • Faker (28) is the only experienced player on the team. The mid laner had already won 3 world championship titles for T1 in his early years
  • Keria, the supporter, was already considered a star at 17 and made his debut in 2020 for the Korean team DRX. He was so strong that T1 brought him on board in 2021 to replace the then struggling supporter Effort
  • Oner, Zeus and Gumayusi all came from T1’s own youth. ADC Gumayusi was brought into the main team in 2021, and Teddy had to make way for him. Top laner Zeus and jungler Oner were promoted in 2022. None of the three have ever played for any team other than T1

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    In 3 years the team became world champions twice and played in 3 World Cup finals

    This is how strong the team is: Since the 5 players have played together in this form, they have particularly impressed internationally. They have reached the World Cup final in each of the last three years and won two World Cup titles.

    Such a success is an exception in LoL. Teams usually fail to deliver such consistent performance. Last year’s world champion often has problems the next year.

    World champion teams from years like FunPlusPhoenix (2019), Edward Gaming (2021) or DRX (2022) no longer played a role at all in 2024. Even DAMWON Gaming, who looked like the team for the next five years in 2020, have since collapsed and didn’t even make it to the quarterfinals of Worlds in 2024.

    T1 also had a crisis in the national league in 2024 and was only able to qualify for the Worlds as the 4th and last team from South Korea. But at Worlds they delivered an extremely strong performance and thrilled the fans.

    Which contracts are expiring? The contracts of Zeus, Oner, Gumayusi and Keria expire on November 18, 2024.

    Faker’s contract runs until the end of 2025 – but it is considered impossible for him to leave T1 anyway, after all, he is a co-owner of the organization.

    What do the players say? After winning the World Cup, the players were asked if they would stay together (via x).

    Keria hesitated to answer, then said: He doesn’t know if he will even be able to play in 2025. But if he played, then… – He was apparently overwhelmed by his emotions at that point and withdrew.

    ADC Gumayusi took over and explained that contracts were too sensitive a subject to be discussed here. But he then let it be known that he definitely wanted to stay in the squad and that he also saw a possibility for the team to stay together. But each player ultimately has to decide for themselves.

    Will Oner or Zeus get an offer they can’t refuse?

    What speaks against them staying together? In the discussion among fans, two main possibilities are mentioned as to why a player could leave:

  • It is expected that a lot of salary is tied up by Faker alone. And it could be that an extremely financially strong offer, an offer “that you can’t refuse,” comes for one of the other players.
  • Or it could be that a player leaves the team because the pressure of expectations to perform in Year 4 is so great.

    • T1 says: They are well prepared to keep the players

    What suggests that the team stays together? Owner Joe Marsh raves highly about the players, saying it is the best squad of all time (via x). He wants to keep the players safe, especially since there are no upgrades for any of the 5.

    There is also a statement from T1’s COO, Josh, that there will be no “exodus” and that they are well prepared to retain players (via YouTube). Fans shouldn’t be nervous.

    The statements from Keria and Gumayusi are also seen as confirmation that the team could stay together.

    In addition, T1 as a team has the opportunity to pay the players more than other teams because they are calculated more favorably against the salary cap.

    Some experts also say: T1 can certainly count on the huge income that will arise from the skins if a team becomes world champion: LoL: T1 players explain which skins they will choose to win Worlds 2024 – with the exception of fakers -Position

    At the moment it remains to be seen what the players will decide in the next few days.

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