Several players at the 2022 League of Legends World Championship have tested positive for COVID-19. Riot Games shared the news right before the start of the tournament. As a result, these players will be playing the tournament remotely.
“During mandatory testing, members of several teams produced a positive result from the COVID test,” the official announcement reads. “Our policy states that in the event a competitor returns a positive result for COVID-19, but feels well enough to compete and choose to play, the affected player will play the scheduled match on a LAN network built in the isolation facilities.” The Worlds 2022 schedule might be subject to change while players test positive for COVID-19.
MAD Lions, Evil Geniuses, Isurus Gaming affected
Riot Games did not share which players tested positive for COVID-19 on the first day. However, on broadcast and on social media, the news spread quickly. MAD Lions jungler Javier “Elyoya” Prades and bot laner William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen were not on-stage for their series against Isurus Gaming. The broadcast confirmed that this was due to them returning positive test results. MAD Lions later shared that three staff members had also tested positive. Isurus Gaming top laner Kang “ADD” Geon-mo is also playing remotely.
On Twitter, Evil Geniuses support player Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme posted a Tweet in which he said to be preparing for the Worlds 2022 stage, but accompanied that with pictures of him staying in his hotel room.
These aren’t the first COVID-19 cases affecting Worlds 2022. Fnatic bot laner Elias “Upset” Lipp and support Zdravets “Hylissang” Galabov tested positive shortly before the event. Thankfully for them, Upset tested negative just in time to make it to the Play-In Stage, and Hylissang will join a short while later.
