M5 League of Legends Team Leaves as Moscow Five Shuts Down
Moscow Five is shutting down eSports operations, and it has been announced that the M5 League of Legends team will officially be leaving the organization. This report is coming from the translations of an official Russian announcement from the Moscow Five organization that was released overnight.
Moscow Five shuts down amid a severe lack of funding after the arrest of Dmitriy Smeliy, the primary financial backer of the M5 project. Smeily was arrested in Amsterdam back in June as part of a worldwide cybercrime takedown. He has been accused of fraud involving online credit card hacking. This was of course a severe blow to the Moscow Five brand, and left the team with a severe lack of sponsors, and as a result, a severe lack of cash.
Following Smeliy’s arrest, the M5 organization was left with only two sponsors, MSi and BenQ, and its eSports teams began to be cut one by one. The M5.LoL team is of course one of the most successful teams in the world, and chose to turn down offers from other sponsors in order to try to help right the ship and prevent the Moscow Five shut down. These efforts have proven unsuccessful, and M5.LoL will now be looking for a new home.
Thanks to sponsors MSi and BenQ, the M5.LoL team will still have one final appearance under the Moscow Five banner as they attend the IEM Katowice tournament later this month. There is no doubt that M5.LoL will have little problem finding a new sponsor, and their standing in the world of competitive League of Legends will afford them a great opportunity to land on their feet with an organization of their choosing.
The official statement seems to imply that while Moscow Five is shutting down for now, that the organization could re-emerge in the future. Only time will tell if there is a resurgence in the future for M5, but losing one of the best and most recognizable teams currently in eSports sure doesn’t bode well for the future.
So, let the speculation begin. Where do you think the M5.LoL team is going to land? Is TSM.Russia coming soon?
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