Vitality Withdraws Academy Team from LFL
Team Vitality has pulled its academy squad from France's LFL, citing uncertainty over the league's future operator.
Two major esports organizations, Team Vitality and LOUD, are at the center of separate competitive gaming stories this week. Vitality is stepping back from a regional League of Legends league due to structural uncertainty, while LOUD has engineered a playoff upset in VALORANT's top tournament to earn a high-stakes rematch.
LFL Faces Team Exodus
Team Vitality has paused its activities in the Ligue Française de League of Legends and is closing its academy team, Vitality.Bee. The organization's CEO, Fabien "Neo" Devide, cited uncertainty over who will operate the LFL starting in 2027 and the need to prioritize investment in its LEC squad as key reasons for the decision. This withdrawal follows the exit of Ici Japon Corp Esport just two days prior, which also pointed to the league's uncertain future.
The departures trace back to operator Webedia's planned exit after 2026. Webedia, which co-managed the league with Riot Games France, will end an involvement that began with the LFL's creation in 2019. The league did not hold a single in-person event in 2026, the first year without one since 2020. Bertrand Amar, who led Webedia's esports operations, stated in a March interview that the company had decided to reduce its esports scope to focus on less risky, established French competitions.
A potential successor organization, New Esports Org (NEO) co-founded by Amar, has stated it is in talks with Riot but did not originally plan to invest in the LFL. No new operator has been announced. The cost pressure on academy teams was evident earlier, with Vitality and Team BDS attempting a merger of their LFL squads in 2025, a move blocked by Riot on competitive integrity grounds. Half of the teams from the 2026 LFL Summer Split are now confirmed not to return in 2027.
LOUD Advances to Upper-Bracket Final
LOUD defeated NRG 2-1 in the VCT Champions 2026 upper-bracket semi-final on October 10. The victory sets up a rematch for LOUD against Team Vitality, the only squad to have beaten them at the tournament so far, while NRG falls into the lower bracket. LOUD claimed the series decider in 36 minutes after the teams split the first two maps, which lasted 46 and 49 minutes respectively.
The win extends LOUD's run to three consecutive victories at the Champions event following their initial loss to Vitality. NRG's defeat ends its own three-match winning streak but does not eliminate it from the tournament. The result was an upset against pre-match power rankings, which placed NRG significantly higher than LOUD.
LOUD now advances to face Vitality in the upper-bracket final on October 16, with the winner moving directly to the grand final. NRG drops into the lower bracket, where it will face T1 in a rematch of an earlier upper-bracket quarter-final. The VCT Champions Shanghai event is scheduled to conclude on October 18.
