ESL LEC

Lore & Background

The organisation was founded on 23 July 2004 by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing on Fnatic's Counter-Strike team for several years, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon became the chief gaming officer of Fnatic in 2012. Wouter Sleijffers replaced Anne Mathews as CEO in 2015, while Sam Mathews is the board chairman. Between 2008 and 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, spurring a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market. In 2006, Fnatic acquired a World of Warcraft team, Fnatic. WoW. In 2007, Fnatic acquired a DotA team, Fnatic. DotA. In 2008, Fnatic picked up a new DotA team. In 2010 FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured. In January 2012, Fnatic took on RaidCall as a sponsor. In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague Dota 2 team. In August 2014, Fnatic partnered with Luke Millanta to create a collection of cosmetic Counter Strike: Global Offensive weapon skins. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to Dota 2, acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia. On 1 October 2015 sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic. On 23 March 2017, Fnatic announced that it would be making a one-off return to Heroes of Newerth. On 2 April 2017, Fnatic became the champions of HonTour Season 5. On 6 October 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive Rocket League scene after acquiring the former roster of Leftovers. On 12 April 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive Rainbow Six Siege scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak. In April 2019, Fnatic raised $19M in Series A funding round. In October 2019, Fnatic acquired Indian PUBG Mobile team Xspark. In November 2019, Fnatic announced a partnership with Japanese company Sanrio. In October 2020, Fnatic announced a multi-year global partnership with Hisense. The same year Fnatic signed a multi-year partnership with BMW. In March 2021, Fnatic announced a renewal of partnership with LeTou. In November 2022, Fnatic launched its own music label, Fnatic Music. On 6 May 2024, the Esports World Cup Foundation announced the 30 organizations who would make up the Club Support Program, with Fnatic being one of them.

Reader's Guide

Fnatic's League of Legends team competes in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). The league was originally known as the EU LCS from 2013 to 2018, and was rebranded directly to LEC in 2019. There was no intermediate 'EUL' rebrand.

Did You Know?

• Fnatic's Counter-Strike team won the first ever CS:GO Major in 2013.
• Fnatic has claimed more than 200 championship victories across 30 different games since its inception in 2004.
• According to Forbes, Fnatic is worth $260 million and is among the top 10 most valuable esports companies.