Schalke 04 Confirms to Keep Their LoL Squad

A month or so ago, there were rumors about FC Schalke 04 wanting to sell their place in the EU LCS. This would mean that the League of Legends players currently playing for that team would be leaving and the team would no longer participate in League of Legends competitions. As soon as these rumors started to appear, they triggered reactions from all over the place. A huge majority of those reactions expressed shock and disbelief at the news.

These reactions were more than justified. The Schalke 04 League of Legends team has been one of the best squads in the last couple of years. Barely any team in the EU LCS has ever displayed such dominance demonstrated by Schalke 04 during the competitions they participated in. So, naturally, fans and industry insiders were surprised to hear the team officials were considering the possibility of retiring their LoL Squad.

Potential Reasons for Selling

All this notwithstanding, Schalke 04 did have their reasons for thinking about selling their place in the EU LCS. Their LoL team did not have much success in the most recent competitions they entered. Barely more than a year ago, Schalke 04 League of Legends team has been winning tournaments left and right. However, they’ve failed to return to the EU LCS this season after being relegated at the end of the last season. Their latest tournament performance saw Schalke 04 defeated by Misfits Academy in the semi-final match of the EU Challenger Series. After this loss, many believed everything was over for Schalke 04, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Team Officials Negate the Rumors

More than a month after these rumors appeared, FC Schalke 04 LoL team officials have come out with a statement about the future of the team. Based on that statement, it does not seem many things will be changing for Schalke 04 moving forward.

According to the Board Chairman of the FC Schalke eSports team, team officials and players have spent a lot of time thinking about the future. In the end, they managed to reach the conclusion that some things need to be improved and changed. However, with that in mind, they plan to continue to participate in the League of Legends competitions despite the hardships.

Big Changes to Player Roster

One of the things that caught our attention in these statements are predictions for the future of the players currently playing for the team. Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, but it seems there will be significant changes to the team’s roster.

At this point, it remains unclear which players will be leaving the team. However, going by Schalke 04 officials’ words, it seems clear that not all of the current players will be playing for FC Schalke 04’s League of Legends team during the next split.

In the midst of all this uncertainty, one thing about the future roster has been confirmed. Schalke 04 officials seem very keen on keeping Lennart ‘Smittyj’ Warkus. Warkus currently plays a top laner on the team, and it is very likely he’ll be staying. At the same time, positions of other players in the team are possibly not that secured.