Three players on Rogue Warriors Sharks, the Rogue Warriors LDL team, have been banned in the latest League of Legends match fixing scandal. In an explosive post on the official League Weibo account, officials found that
Sharks players Ren “Caocao” Jie, Liao “Zhanzhao” Kang-jian, and Liu “FengXian” Zhanhong were engaged in misconduct during the 2019 Spring Split.
In addition, a player on the Rogue Warriors LPL team, jungler Xie “XiaoYao” Tao, was found to have “assisted” Caocao, Zhanzhao, and FengXian in some fashion. The Sharks’ coach Ye Sheng-qi and manager Li Kai-hao were also cited for failing to fulfill “reasonable management obligations.”
All four players are being handed 18-month suspensions, while the coaches will receive official warnings. The suspensions mean that Rogue Warriors Sharks won’t be able to compete in the upcoming LDL playoffs, since the player registration deadline has passed.
LDL is the primary developmental league for China’s LPL, the largest and most popular League of Legends league in the world. China has long battled issues with match fixing in a variety of sports. It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that this would extend to esports.
The investigation comes in the wake of another match fixing scandal in Asia from team Dragon Gate in the LMS. Dragon Gate is suing over the allegation, saying that the investigation lacked “substantive results.”
Rogue Warriors has yet to comment on the situation.
H/T LPL journalist Ran
