FC Schalke 04 Esports is the esports department of football clubFC Schalke 04. It has a League of Legends team competing in the LEC, the top level of professional League of Legends in Europe. Matches are played in the Am Studio 20D in Adlershof, Berlin. The team previously played in the European League of LegendsChallenger Series after being relegated in the 2017 EU LCS Spring Promotion tournament, but returned to the EU LCS after defeating the Ninjas in Pyjamas 3–0 in the 2018 EU LCS Spring Promotion tournament.
History
In 2016, FC Schalke 04 opened an esports department and acquired the EU LCS spot of Elements, becoming the fourth football club to enter the professional League of Legends scene after Beşiktaş, Santos and Remo. The club also announced former Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and Sportfreunde Siegen midfielder and SK Gaming co-founder Tim Reichert as Head of eSport. Schalke finished eighth in the 2016 Summer EU LCS and was relegated to the European League of Legends Challenger Series after losing a promotion match to Misfits Gaming. In December 2016, Steve and sprattel joined PSG eSports and left Schalke. Schalke announced a new roster on 13 January 2017, with SmittyJ, loulex, SELFIE, Upset and Vander joining the team. SELFIE and Vander left Schalke on 30 April 2017. Memento, Caedrel and Norskeren joined Schalke on 22 May 2017, as Jungler, Mid Laner and Support respectively. Schalke also released loulex on the same day. Schalke returned to the EU LCS on 25 August 2017, after defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas 3–0 in the 2018 EU LCS Spring Promotion tournament. On 30 September, Schalke released most of its roster: SmittyJ, Memento, Caedrel and Norskeren all announced their free agency via Twitter. On 21 November 2017, Schalke announced the addition of Vizicsacsi, Pridestalker, and Nukeduck to their roster as top laner, jungler, and mid laner respectively. Vander rejoined on the same day as Support. The team ended the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split in eighth place, but did not have to play in a promotion tournament as EUCS was abolished prior to the split. Amazing joined Schalke as starting jungler on 31 May 2018, after Pride was moved to a substitute role on 3 April. Schalke ended the 2018 EU LCS Summer Split in third place with a 12–6 record, qualifying the organisation for their first appearance in playoffs. The team managed to make it to the finals, but were defeated by Fnatic 1–3, and later failed to qualify for the 2018 World Championship after falling to G2 Esports 1–3 in the regional qualifiers. Riot Games announced on 20 November 2018 that Schalke would be one of ten franchise partners participating in the newly rebranded League of Legends European Championship. Schalke completely revised their roster prior to the 2019 Spring LEC, signing veterans top laner Tamás "Vizicsacsi" Kiss, jungler Jonas "Memento" Elmarghichi, and support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun, and rookie mid laner Felix "Abbedagge" Braun. Despite a strong start to the regular season, Schalke ended in seventh place with a 9–9 record, barely missing playoffs. In preparation for the 2019 Summer LEC, Schalke signed 2016 Summer EU LCS MVPKim "Trick" Gang-yun to replace Memento in the jungle. The team ended the regular season in fourth place with an 11–7 record, qualifying for playoffs. After defeating Team Vitality and Rogue in the first and second round of playoffs respectively, Schalke moved on to the third round in Athens, where they were swept by Fnatic.
