Three prominent Turkish organisations will be absent from the country’s top-tier League of Legends (LoL) competition next year, citing strategic evaluations and sustainability concerns. Beşiktaş Esports, Papara SuperMassive, and ULF Esports have all confirmed they will not compete in the GAMEON Championship League for the 2026 season, marking a significant shift in the regional esports landscape.
The league organiser announced the departures via a social media statement, thanking the teams for their contributions. The most detailed reasoning came from Beşiktaş Esports, which stated its decision followed a comprehensive review aligned with the wider club’s restructuring and future planning. The historic football club emphasised that continued participation in the current League of Legends ecosystem was not sustainable for them at this time.
In a lengthy farewell post, Beşiktaş Esports framed the exit as a strategic pause rather than a permanent departure. The organisation hinted at a potential return should the domestic scene evolve to better match its ambitions. “This is not a complete goodbye,” the statement read, translated from Turkish. “When the Turkey League of Legends scene creates an environment that realigns with the dreams and goals of Beşiktaş Esports, we would like to be here again. Until then, it is unfortunately not sustainable for us to be on this platform.”
The exit of three established teams represents a notable roster turnover for the league. However, unlike consolidation trends seen in other major regions, the vacated slots are being filled. LoLespor has since announced Team Phoenix and S2G Esports will join the competition for the new season, with a third and final replacement team still to be confirmed.
The Turkish changes, in contrast, point to a reshaping of the participating organisations while maintaining the league’s scale, but this pattern of organisational change differs from structural contractions seen elsewhere.
In the Americas, the merger of the LLA and CBLOL into the LTA for the 2025 season resulted in four Brazilian teams permanently exiting the partnership program. Although the structure later reverted to CBLOL, only six Brazilian organisations retained partnered status. Similarly, in China’s LPL, a league-operated slot repurchase programme is actively reducing the number of franchises. The recent departure of 2019 world champions FunPlus Phoenix (FPX), confirmed as part of this initiative to streamline the league, is a prominent example of mandated consolidation.
Follow The Esports Radar on social media:
