- The 26-year-old mid-laner will play for the organization for at least until 2025
- He has already been with the team since 2013
- He will become one of the oldest and most experienced LoL pros when his contract expires
Over the years, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has proven one of T1’s most valuable assets, and he will remain so for another three years.
Faker Re-Signs with T1
T1 had an amazing run throughout this competitive League of Legends year, making a big impact during the World Championship 2022. Although the team eventually fell to DRX at the Grand Final, T1 still managed to put up stiff resistance, dragging the match out to 5 games, only narrowly losing the top spot at the end. The team would not have been able to make such a performance without their star mid-laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who has recently extended his contract with T1 until 2025.
The news was broken by a simple image on Twitter, posted by the organization, showing the player with a simple text saying “re-signs with T1 for 3 years.” The post gained a huge amount of attention and put an end to the speculations that Faker will be leaving T1 in favor of pursuing options in other organizations.
Faker Has a Long History with T1
Faker’s re-signing for another three years will extend the player’s already very long career with T1. He’s been with the organization since 2013 when the team was still known as SK Telecom T1. That year also marks his first Worlds title and was also the season when his reputation as “The Unkillable Demon King” started to be built.
From then, the player’s successes only grew more. He helped T1 win two more Worlds titles, in 2015 and 2016, as well as two MSI trophies in 2016 and 2017. Although the organization hasn’t reached the same performance in past years, it has still managed to get to the last matches of the Worlds, with Faker continuing to exceed expectations.
At the age of 26, Faker is also the mentor for a new generation of talents, as he is six years older than his next-oldest teammates, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok. With age comes experience, and Faker has a lot of that. When his contract expires in 2025, the player would already be 29 years old, making him one of the oldest active LoL pro players.
Interestingly, if Faker had the chance to break a record at the Worlds 2022 finals for the oldest player to ever win the Championship. However, T1 fell, but the record was still broken by DRX’s Deft – another amazing player who is also 26 years old, just like Faker.
Regardless, Faker will remain one of T1’s most important assets for the future. He will work with younger talent alongside the coaching trio of Kim “Sky” Ha-neul, Kim “Roach” Kang-hui, and Im “Tom” Jae-hyeon, who have all re-signed with T1 for the 2023 season.
