China's FPX wins 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals

Anthony Cuthbertson
AccorHotels Arena, Paris
Sunday 10 November 2019 16:24 GMT
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Chinese team FPX lift the Summoner's Cup after winning the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals
Chinese team FPX lift the Summoner's Cup after winning the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals (Riot Games)

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Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) have won the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, defeating European challengers G2 ESports (G2) in the finals to take home more than $2 million prize money.

In front of a hyped Paris crowd, home favourites G2 were hoping to be the first Western team to win the Summoner's Cup in eight years.

The European team were slight favourites ahead of the match, having not lost a tournament match all year.

But FPX dominated from start to finish to win the five-game series 3-0, thanks to an inspired performance led by Korean captain Kim ‘Doinb’ Tae-sang.

Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent described the finals as ”the biggest event in the history of eSports”, with an estimated 100 million people around the world watching the finals.

In front of a sell-out crowd at the AccorHotels Arena, FPX gave G2 fans little to cheer.

Their dominance was most clear in the battle between Gao “Tian” Tian-liang and Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, which earned Tian the title of Most Valuable Player.

"I did think that I did all that was required of me in the three games today, but I’m actually very surprised that I became the MVP," Tian said.

"I often read comments in the communities when I was in China, and people often said that Tian plays like this player or that player. I think I proved myself today and showed the world what kind of player Tian is.”

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