A new statistic now shows that players from the USA and Canada are qualifying for the World Championship in League of Legends less and less often. The number of participants from North America at the LoL Worlds has fallen from 14 to 3. The top teams in the USA are almost exclusively playing with “non-Americans.”
What kind of statistic is this?
- The statistic concerns how many players with a US or Canadian passport are participating at the Worlds.
- The North American league LCS sends 3 teams to the Worlds. If all spots were filled with North Americans, there would be 15 players. In the early years of LoL, they almost achieved that: they sent 14 or 13 players with a passport from a country in North America to the Worlds.
- However, the number of foreigners in the best US teams continued to rise. By 2021, only 3 North Americans are at the Worlds.
More Danes than Americans play in the top LCS teams
These are the 3 top teams of the LCS: The USA is sending 3 teams to the Worlds again this year: 100 Thieves, Team Liquid, and Cloud 9.
- The LCS champion 100 Thieves employs two players from South Korea – the other 3 come from Turkey, Australia and even from Germany. 100 Thieves has no North Americans on the roster.
- Team Liquid still has Tactical, a US player, in the starting five; otherwise, the team consists of Europeans and a Korean.
- The key players of Cloud 9 are two Europeans, Perkz (Croatia) and Zven (Denmark). The Australian Fudge plays as a top laner. Jungler Blaber and Vulcan (Canada) both come from North America.
A curious statistic: In the top teams of the USA, there are more Danes (Zven, Santorin, Hensen) than Americans (Tactical, Blaber).
Meanwhile, Team Solo Mid, known for their love of Danes, did not qualify for the Worlds at all. They did not have a Dane on the team in 2021 and promptly faced the consequences.
South Korea sends only South Koreans, Europe only Europeans to the Worlds 2021
Is this phenomenon also present in other countries? No, hardly. The three European teams flying to the Worlds 2021 consist solely of Europeans. While it is completely normal for people from many European countries to play together, no one from outside of Europe plays in a top LEC team.
It’s even more extreme in South Korea: all 4 teams going to the Worlds, such as Gen G, T1, DWG Kia, and Hoya Life, consist exclusively of South Koreans. Not a single player from another nation is found in the rosters of the leading quartet of the LCK.
The teams from China occasionally have players from South Korea like Doinb or Nuguri. This is due to a special phenomenon: A few years ago, Korean professionals moved to China because new rules required the dissolution of professional “secondary teams” in South Korea. But aside from the few Koreans, China sends only Chinese players to the LoL Worlds 2021; no third nation is found in the 4 top teams of the LPL.
US teams have so much money but so few homegrown stars
What is the problem in the USA? This is hotly debated. An official from the esports league ESL believes it has to do with the dominance of the LCS. Due to the established professional league LCS, it is unattractive to invest in a LoL team that does not play in the LCS in North America. As a result, there are no “lower leagues” where talents could develop.
Additionally, the USA apparently has a lot of money to buy talents from abroad. The USA has a passionate and apparently willing-to-pay fan base. Thanks to lucrative sponsor deals totaling over 200 million US dollars, the war chests are well filled, which they are gladly emptied for players from Europe or South Korea.
However, US teams have the reputation of only picking “second choice” players or individuals whose best years are already behind them.
The American Doublelift knows other reasons for the problem that the USA continues to disappoint at the League of Legends World Championships:
Expert explains why the USA is so bad in LoL despite having a lot of money: Riot is to blame
