The 24-year-old Mareike “Sayna” Burg made e-sports history on February 9 by playing as the first woman in the First Division of the Prime League, Germany’s highest league in LoL. Previously, there had only been one female coach.
Who is Sayna? The 24-year-old’s real name is Mareike Burg and she is studying computer science in her master’s program. She gained her first competitive experiences in the university team at the University of Göttingen and has been active in e-sports for 4 years. The favorite champion of the bot laner is the battle mage Swain (via Twitter).
In a video, Sayna also revealed her goal of working full-time as a professional e-sports player. She feels particularly connected to her idol Judit Polgár: The Hungarian chess grandmaster was in a similar situation as herself and fought her way in a male-dominated discipline.
Now, Sayna has taken a big step towards her goal: As the first woman, she made her debut in the 1st Division of the Prime League, Germany’s top league, on February 9. We have embedded her self-introduction here:
Unicorns of Love make e-sports history
Why is the debut happening only now? Although the current Spring Split of the Prime League started in January, Sayna had only been involved as a substitute player for her team, the Unicorns of Love, until now. On February 8, the premiere was announced via Twitter:
Sayna was to play as ADC in the match against Eintracht Frankfurt, taking the place of Johannes “Fun K3y” Werner. However, the team emphasized that both Fun K3y and Sayna remain part of the team, training and playing as such (via Twitter).
In the Prime League, Sayna will sooner or later also meet Eintracht Spandau under President Knabe.
Even the competition cheers
How was it received? The Unicorns of Love received a lot of positive feedback for their step. Daniel “Broeki” Broekmann, whose team NNO has also been playing in the 1st Division of the Prime League since this season, promptly declared himself a fan of the opponents:
Praise also came from YouTuber HandOfBlood alias President Knabe of Eintracht Spandau, as well as the e-sports organization Angry Titans (via Twitter).
Additionally, there were further positive comments, a few of which we have gathered here for you:
- HollaDieWaldfee writes: “No fan of League but always proud to see women in e-sports and hope that it will eventually become normal”
- Baso cheered: “Mega!! So cool to see more and more women in esports – lots of success to you!!”
- A Twitter user named anja was one step ahead of the Unicorns: “Just talked the day before yesterday about how important this slowly would be. Thank you — mega that you are taking this path!”
How did the debut go? The first match ended with a 2:1 victory for Eintracht Frankfurt, but with 5 wins and 2 losses so far, everything is still possible for the Unicorns in the Spring Split. They currently stand in 2nd place overall, behind Eintracht Spandau (via primeleague).
Mixed teams, like the current lineup of the Unicorns of Love, are rather rare in e-sports. Instead, there are leagues in some games where only female teams compete. Such as the European team G2 Gozen, which triumphed at the first women’s major in Valorant.
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