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Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional
esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...
organization headquartered in
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,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such as '' Apex Legends'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''
Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to '' Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota ...
'', ''
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
'', '' Heroes of the Storm'', '' League of Legends'', '' Valorant'', and '' Rainbow Six Siege''. Fnatic's ''League of Legends'' team won the first-ever League of Legends World Championship in 2011, and also held the record for the most
League of Legends Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the top level of professional '' League of Legends'' in the United States and Canada. The esports league is run by Riot Games and has ten franchise teams. Each annual season of competition is divided ...
split titles in the LEC—totalling seven of the 19 played so far ()—until
G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in '' League of Legends'', '' Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six ...
won their eighth title in the 2020 LEC Summer Split. With the
2015 EU LCS Summer Split The 2015 European League of Legends Championship Series (2015 EU LCS) was the third season of the European League of Legends Championship Series. The Summer Split began with a rematch of the 2015 EU LCS Spring playoff finals between Unicorns o ...
they became the first LCS team to finish a split undefeated. Fnatic's ''CS:GO'' team, which has traditionally been located in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
, won the first ever ''CS:GO'' Major in
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and two more between 2013 and 2015. After a series of poor results dating back to the start of 2021, Fnatic made a move towards an international roster for the first time since 2013. The organization has claimed more than 200 championship victories across 30 different games since its inception in 2004. According to Forbes, Fnatic is now worth $260 million in 2022 and is among the top 10 most valuable esports companies.


History

The organization was founded on 23 July 2004 by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing several years for Fnatic, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, a '' Counter-Strike'' player, became the
chief gaming officer A chief gaming officer, or chief game officer (abbreviated as CGO) is an executive position whose holder is focused on research and technical issues within a computer game company. Responsibilities The chief gaming officer or chief game office ...
of Fnatic in 2012. Wouter Sleijffers replaced Anne Mathews as CEO in 2015, whilst Sam Mathews is the board chairman. Between 2008 and 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, spurring a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market. In 2006, Fnatic acquired a ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azer ...
'' team, Fnatic. WoW. Returning to represent Fnatic in the ''World of Warcraft'' 3v3 community was players TooGood, Vo0, and Ztrider. The Fnatic. WoW division won top finishes in events including BlizzCon, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and Major League Gaming (MLG). In 2007, Fnatic acquired a '' DotA'' team, Fnatic. DotA, represented by Ritter "Ritter" Rusli, Romi "melen" Gunawan, Ariyanto "Lakuci" Sony, Sugiarto "BaHaMuT" Cahyadi, Jeffry "Neo" Lu. They were formerly known as XcN DotA. In 2008, Fnatic picked up a new ''DotA'' team with a roster of Edvin "Kwom" Börjesson, Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Rasmus "Misery" Berth, Rene "Kebap-" Werner, and Aringazin "Aidar" Aidar. In 2010 FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured with a roster of Johan " N0tail" Sundstein, Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, Henrik "Freshpro" Hansen, Jascha "Nova" Markuse, and Tal "
Fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
" Aizik. In January 2012, Fnatic took on ''RaidCall'' as a sponsor. With the new title sponsor, Fnatic expanded into South Korea and became the first non-Korean esports team to acquire a professional gaming house in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
. In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague ''
Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to '' Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota ...
'' team in order to compete with other top teams. The team placed fourth in ESWC, but soon after, the team parted ways with Fnatic. In August 2014, Fnatic announced that it had partnered with Luke Millanta to produce a number of ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' weapon finishes. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to ''
Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to '' Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota ...
'', acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia. On 1 October 2015 sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic. On 23 March 2017, Fnatic announced that it will be making a one-off return to ''
Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custo ...
'' with an all-Swedish roster made up of Makke, iNsaniA, Xibbe, Boxi & miCKe and will compete at the HonTour Season 5 World Finals in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
. On 2 April 2017, Fnatic became the champions of HonTour Season 5, defeating iXsPhoenix MiXs on the grand finals. On 6 October 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive '' Rocket League'' scene after acquiring the former roster of ''Leftovers''. On 12 April 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive ''Rainbow Six Siege'' scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak. The company has its headquarters in London, near the Silicon Roundabout at Old Street, with a full-time senior management team including a CEO, CGO, Sales Director, Accounts Director and Head of Creative Services. Fnatic also runs an independent digital agency, ''Sannpa'', for businesses looking to be involved in esports. In April 2019, Fnatic raised $19M in
Series A A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exc ...
funding round and restructured its leadership as it plans a major expansion in Asia and North America. In October 2019, Fnatic acquired Indian ''PUBG Mobile'' team Xspark, consisting of Sc0utOP, Ronak, Paritosh, Owais and InYoDream. Fnatic disbanded the team in March 2021. In November 2019, Fnatic announced it had entered into a partnership with Japanese company Sanrio to collaborate on content and merchandise around its Hello Kitty brand. In October 2020, Fnatic announced a multi-year global partnership with Chinese-based global consumer electronics and home appliances market leader, Hisense. The same year Fnatic signed a multi-year partnership with BMW. In March 2021, Fnatic announced a renewal of partnership with a global online gaming entertainment service "LeTou" and will serve as official sponsors for their DOTA 2 squad. In November 2022, Fnatic launched its own music label, Fnatic Music. The announcement coincided with the album Fnatic Island Vol. 1.


Current divisions


''Counter-Strike''


''Counter-Strike: Source'' and ''1.6''

Fnatic entered the ''Counter-Strike'' competitive scene in 2004, when the team was founded by Freek "FraK" Tammeling. The initial roster, led by Benjamin "diGitaL" Hildén, managed to win CPL Singapore 2005 but struggled to make much of an impact at other international events. At the beginning of 2006, Fnatic released the entire lineup except for sniper Harley "dsn" Örwall, who was tasked to assemble a new roster. Örwall recruited Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, the in-game leader of Eyeballers; Oscar "Archi" Torgersen, from Team GoN; and Begrip duo
Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg Patrik Lindberg (born June 10, 1988), known by the pseudonym f0rest, is a Swedish esports player who is considered to be one of the best ''Counter-Strike'' players in the world. Having played competitively since 2005, Lindberg has been widely r ...
and Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund. This lineup would go on to win many major events in 2006, culminating with a 1st-place finish at CPL Winter 2006. In 2011, Fnatic's ''Counter-Strike'' team placed top three in many events with their newly acquired player, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. This simultaneously led to dropping many uncontracted players such as Qet (''Counter-Strike''), Lauke (''UT'') and Vo0 (''Q3''). cArn gained a reputation as one of ''Counter-Strike'''s premier in-game leaders and strategy callers from 2006 to 2012 due to his ability to lead several completely different Fnatic rosters to major tournament wins. However, in March 2012, he announced his surprise retirement before the
IEM Season VI The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international esports tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by Intel, currently host events in '' Counter-Strike: Glob ...
World Finals, going on to become the first chief gaming officer for Fnatic. Xizt took on the role of the in-game leader, replacing cArn with Finn "karrigan" Andersen, another Danish player. The new team won their first major LAN event at Copenhagen Games 2012. On the same weekend, FnaticRC.aLive won his first ever major tournament at IPL4 Las Vegas. After Fnatic won 2012 DreamHack Summer and the Swedish Championships, Rasmus "Gux" Stahl retired from ''Counter-Strike'', leaving an open spot in Fnatic. On 26 June, Fnatic announced that Martin "trace" Heldt will join the team. In August, Richard "Xizt" Landstorm left the team to play CS:GO for
NiP ''Nip'' is an ethnic slur against people of Japanese descent and origin. The word ''Nip'' is an abbreviation from ''Nippon'' (日本), the Japanese name for Japan. History The earliest recorded occurrence of the slur seems to be in the ''Time' ...
; Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson was announced as his replacement.


''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''

When Fnatic switched to ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive'', they became one of the top teams in the world. In order to complete the roster, Fnatic announced that Xyp9x and JOKERN will join them to compete in ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive''. The team was able to finish in the 3rd/4th position of the EMS Season 1 Finals. In late 2013, Fnatic won the first ever major tournament in ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive'', under the guidance of their new leader, Markus "pronax" Wallsten, taking out the team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP). In 2014, Fnatic took in 2 ex-LGB players, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson. They went on to win ESL One Katowice 2015 after defeating NIP, and on 24 August 2015, Fnatic won ESL One Cologne 2015, after defeating Team EnVyUs. Because of this roster's back-to-back major wins and elven other international titles, some consider this Fnatic team to be the strongest roster ever assembled in the history of ''CS:GO''. In November 2015, after a few disappointing tournament performances, pronax decided to take a hiatus from competitive ''CS:GO''. He was replaced with Dennis "dennis" Edman from international team G2 Esports. In December 2015, Fnatic beat NIP 2–1 and secured their second Fragbite Masters win, the other being in season 3. Fnatic regained the #1 position in HLTV's team rankings after the tournament, and remained the #1 ranked team in the world until 18 April 2016. In April 2016 olofmeister suffered a wrist injury, and John "wenton" Eriksson took his place temporarily. On 15 August 2016 Fnatic announced that Robin "flusha" Rönnquist, Jesper "JW" Wecksell, and KRIMZ would be transferred to GODSENT and the team would be welcoming Simon "twist" Eliasson and Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson in return. Wenton, who was already a substitute for Fnatic, completed the lineup."A new era for Fnatic CS:GO"
/ref> On 20 August 2017 Fnatic announced that olofmeister would depart from Fnatic to join FaZe Clan, and dennis would also leave Fnatic and join GODSENT; they were replaced by Maikil "Golden" Selim and Lekr0. In September 2019, flusha and Golden, two previous squad members, rejoined the team. Following this roster move, Fnatic enjoyed some success, until at the start of 2021 there were more changes, with flusha stepping down from the team's active roster, to be replaced by the 21 year old talent Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson. after this change, the team had a slew of losses, falling over the next six months to a near all-time low of position #65 on the HLTV team ranking. As a result of this, the decision was made to change things up, with the roster becoming, for the first time, an international one following the addition of UK players Alexander "ALEX" McMeekin and William "mezii" Merriman and the benching of JW and Golden. This change was positive at first for Fnatic, leading to good performances at ESL Pro League XIV, and allowed them to regain a spot amongst the top 20 HLTV teams; however, following a bad performance at IEM Fall 2021, where they failed to win a single match, Fnatic failed to qualify for the 2021 Stockholm Major, and shortly afterward, Jackinho was benched from the team. Owen "smooya" Butterfield was signed to replace Jackinho on a 3-month trial. The addition of smooya marked the first time in the history of Fnatic fielded a British majority lineup. After poor results at Katowice 2022 in February, smooya was benched and replaced by the
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n sniper Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău, shortly before qualification for the
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 The PGL Major Antwerp 2022, also known as PGL Major 2022 or Antwerp 2022, was the seventeenth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (''CS:GO'') Major Championship. It was held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis from May 9 to 22, 2022. Twent ...
. In March 2022, Brollan who had been with Fnatic since 2018 and during that time made the HLTV top 20 players twice, was transferred to NIP. Valentin "⁠poizon⁠" Vasilev and Peppe "⁠Peppzor⁠" Borak were added to the roster to replace smooya and Brollan, although poizon only on trial and Peppzor temporarily moved up from the academy team. After not achieving desired results, ALEX and poizon were benched and Peppzor was returned to the Fnatic Rising academy team, leaving only KRIMZ and mezii in the team. In an attempt to better results, the Danish duo Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi and Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen were transferred from Copenhagen Flames to Fnatic, in June. In August, to complete the roster the Dutch rifler Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen was added to the roster. Furthermore, mezii took the position of in-game leader after it was left vacant after the departure of ALEX. After three years of not attending a Major, with the last being the
IEM Katowice Major 2019 The Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII – Katowice Major 2019, also known as IEM Katowice Major 2019 or Katowice 2019, was the fourteenth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship and the world championship for the thirteenth sea ...
where Fnatic finished 12-14th in the Challengers Stage, they managed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers Stage.


Current roster


Current academy roster


''Dota 2''

On 30 March 2012, Fnatic's ''
Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custo ...
'' team, consisting of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Jascha "NoVa" Markuse, Tal "Fly" Aizik, and Adrian "Era" Kryeziu officially switched to ''Dota 2''. By early September of the same year, a roster was finalized with the addition of Kai "H4nn1" Hanbückers and Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, the latter of whom replaced Jascha "NoVa" Markuse. In 2014, Fnatic parted ways with its ''Dota 2'' squad with each member deciding to leave the organization. In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to ''Dota 2'', acquiring the roster of Team Malaysia. Fnatic placed 4th at
The International 2016 The International 2016 (TI6) was the sixth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports championship tournament. Hosted by Valve Corporation, the game's developer, the tournament began in June 2016 with the qualifier phase and e ...
.


Current roster


''FIFA''

In 2008, Fnatic picked up Maximo12, a Spanish ''
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
'' football video game player who won several titles in 2008 & 2009, such as the WCG Spain Champion in 2008. On 6 November 2019, Fnatic signed Tekkz.


''League of Legends''


Season 1

Fnatic entered the ''League of Legends'' scene in March 2011 by acquiring the roster of the esports team myRevenge. Two months later, the squad consisting of xPeke, LaMiaZeaLoT, Shushei, CyanideFI, Mellisan and MagicFingers qualified for the Season 1 World Championship after WetDream left. Fnatic performed well during the championship and after taking down against All authority 2–1 they were crowned the Season 1 world champions.


Season 2

In Season 2 and the preseason before it, the team participated in the Intel Extreme Masters Season VI circuit and Azubu The Champions Spring 2012, where they reached the quarter finals. After that, the team lost many of its players. Between June and September 2012, Shuhei, Mellisan, Pheilox, and Lamia moved on and were replaced by sOAZ, and nRated. Among these roster changes the team did not manage to qualify for the Season 2 World Championship after losing the deciding series in the Regional Finals with 0–2 against Counter Logic Gaming EU.


Season 3

In the Season 3 preseason,
Rekkles Carl Martin Erik Larsson (born 20 September 1996), better known as Rekkles (pronounced "reckless"), is a Swedish professional ''League of Legends'' player for Fnatic. He has played for Fnatic, Alliance, Elements, G2 Esports, and Karmine Corp. ...
joined the team and Fnatic won
DreamHack Winter 2012 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's ...
, finished second at IPL 5 in Las Vegas and IEM Season VII – Global Challenge Cologne. Rekkles did not meet the minimal age requirements for Riot's Season 3 League Championship Series and was replaced by YellOwStaR on 26 December. In 2013, Fnatic won the Spring Split of Season 3, but during the Summer Split, the team struggled and decided that a player change was necessary. In July 2013, Fnatic announced changes to their League of Legends roster. nRated, the main support, left the team and YellOwstaR, the former AD carry, switched roles to play support. Puszu then joined the team in their Cologne gaming house to finish Season 3 as Fnatic's AD Carry. Fnatic later won the Season 3 Summer Split and qualified for the
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in
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,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. During the Group Stage of the Season 3 World finals, Fnatic went into the quarter-finals against Cloud9, considered the best team in North America at the time. After defeating Cloud9 2–1, Fnatic advanced to the semi-finals against Royal Club Huang Zu. They later lost against Royal Club and placed tied for third place.


Season 4

In the 2014 season, Rekkles rejoined the team and Fnatic secured their third LCS title after defeating
SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...
in the playoffs final of the Spring Split. The Summer Split saw Fnatic struggle against Alliance in another playoffs final but even after losing the match, Fnatic had collected enough points to qualify for the 2014 World Championship. The World Championship saw Fnatic placed in Group C with Korea's Samsung Blue, China's OMG, and North America's LMQ. The team was only able to win 2 out of 6 matches, meaning that they would go no further in the tournament.


Season 5

In the 2015 preseason, sOAZ, Rekkles, xPeke and Cyanide left Fnatic and were replaced by
Huni Huni (original reading unknown) was an ancient Egyptian king and the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period. Following the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2613&nbs ...
,
Reignover Kim Yeu-jin ( ko, 김의진), better known as Reignover, is a South Korean '' League of Legends'' coach and former professional player. He played for Fnatic of the EU LCS during most of the 2015 season as their jungler. While on Fnatic, he won ...
,
Febiven Fabian Diepstraten (), better known as Febiven, is a Dutch former professional ''League of Legends'' player. During his career which spanned seven years, he played for several teams, including Misfits Gaming, Clutch Gaming, Fnatic, H2k-Gaming, ...
, and Steeelback. Fnatic won the 2015 Spring Split, after beating the Unicorns of Love on 19 April 2015 in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Spain in the playoffs grand final that went 3–2 in favor of Fnatic.2015 EU LCS Playoffs
, retrieved 15 April 2015.
They would later attend the Mid-Seasonal Invitational, an international competition attended by the top teams of each region. They went 2–3 in the group stage and made it to the playoffs. They were matched against former world champion SK Telecom T1, to whom they lost 2–3. In the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split, Fnatic became the first LCS team to complete a regular split undefeated, finishing with a score of 18 wins and 0 losses. They would go on to win the 2015 EU Summer Split Playoffs, beating
Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...
3–2, and qualifying for the 2015 ''League of Legends'' World Championship as the first seed from Europe. In the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, Fnatic took first place Group B in the group stage with a 4–2 record. In the quarterfinals they defeated the Chinese team EDward Gaming with a score of 3–0. In the semifinal, they lost to the Korean team
KOO Tigers Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) is a South Korean esports organization based in Seoul, owned by Hanwha Life Insurance. It has teams competing in '' League of Legends'' and '' Kart Rider'', with the former competing in the LCK, South Korea's top leve ...
with a score of 0–3, giving them a third/fourth-place finish in the tournament.


Season 6

The 2016 preseason saw the departure of Huni, Reignover and Yellowstar from the team. It was then announced that they would be replaced by Spirit, Gamsu and NoxiaK, respectively. In the 2016 Spring Split the team struggled to find its footing at first but the replacement of NoxiaK by Klaj saw an improved Fnatic make it to the final of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice where they lost 0–3 against
SKT T1 T1 (previously known as SK Telecom T1 or SKT T1) is a South Korean esports organization operated by the T1 Entertainment & Sports, a joint venture between SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor. At the end of 2003, SK Telecom took the StarCraft Team O ...
. The team finished the split in sixth place and made it to the playoffs where they upset Team Vitality 3–1 before losing to eventual champions
G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in '' League of Legends'', '' Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six ...
3–1 in the semifinals. They then defeated H2k Gaming 3–2 to secure third place overall. A month later, Fnatic announced the return of Yellowstar to the lineup for the 2016 Spring Split. On 13 May 2016, Fnatic announced the departure of Gamsu from the starting line-up. He was replaced by former
G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in '' League of Legends'', '' Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six ...
top laner Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek. Kikis debuted with Fnatic during the start of the 8th week of the
EU LCS The ''League of Legends'' EMEA Championship (LEC) is the professional '' League of Legends'' esports league run by Riot Games in the EMEA ( Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region, in which ten teams compete. Each annual season of play is d ...
. Fnatic finished the 2016 EU LCS Summer Split regular season in 4th after a playoff match against H2k-Gaming. They would go on to play H2k again in the playoffs. In between the two fixtures, Fnatic parted ways with head coach Luis "Deilor" Sevilla and replaced him with Nicholas "NicoThePico" Korsgård. After their series against H2k was delayed due to technical issues, H2k defeated Fnatic 3–0 on 16 August 2016.


Season 8

After acquiring Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov for the Support role during the off-season, the new Fnatic roster, now also featuring Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen as the starting Jungler, saw immediate improvements to their performance, and would go on to win both the 2018 EU LCS spring title, as well as the 2018 LEC summer title, (The league rebranded halfway through the year) overcoming their rivals G2 Esports in spring, and Schalke 04 in summer. During MSI 2018 the team managed to make it past the group stage after a tie-breaker against the LCS champions,
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team L ...
, but would be defeated in the playoffs after being clean swept by the LPL representatives and eventual tournament winners Royal Never Give Up, who at the time were widely considered to be the best team in the world. During the 2018 EU LCS Summer Split the team, in a very controversial decision, would be forced to bench Rekkles and promote their top lane substitute Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau to the starting position after new meta developments left marksmen heavily unfavorable across all levels of play, though the former would eventually return after the meta changes were partially reverted by Riot. During Worlds 2018 Fnatic would made it through the Group Stage only losing once to the China's Invictus Gaming as well as losing the tiebreaker, and advance to the Playoffs Stage, where the team would successfully defeat China's Edward Gaming, 3–1, and clean sweep North America's Cloud9 in the semifinals match. After these victories Fnatic would reach the World Championship Finals, the first time since 2011, and the second time ever for any western team, where they would meet their Group Stage competitors Invictus Gaming again. IG would dominate them in every game and clean sweep the Fnatic to win the 2018 World Championship.


Honours


= Domestic

= * LEC ** Winners (7): 2013 Spring, 2013 Summer, 2014 Spring, 2015 Spring, 2015 Summer, 2018 Spring, 2018 Summer


= International

= *
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
** Winners (1): 2011


Current roster


''Rainbow Six Siege''

On 12 April 2018, Fnatic signed their first '' Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' team just days before the Season 7 APAC (Asia Pacific) Finals where they placed first, beating Japanese rivals, PET Nora-Rengo. Fnatic acquired the former Australian roster of Mindfreak. The original roster consisted of Matthew "Acez" McHenry, Jason "Lusty" Chen, Etienne "Magnet" Rousseau, Daniel "NeophyteR" An, Ethan "RizRaz" Wombwell, and Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders as coach. On 19 May 2018, Fnatic went out in the quarter finals of the Season 7 Finals losing to eventual champions
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team L ...
. On 17 November 2018, Fnatic unexpectedly beat top North American team, Evil Geniuses 2–0 in a stunning upset in the Season 8 Finals. The following day, Fnatic fell to
G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in '' League of Legends'', '' Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six ...
without winning a single round in either of the played maps, losing 6–0, 6–0, and placing 3–4th in the event. On 30 November 2018, Fnatic signed Jake "Virtue" Grannan as a sixth player after having their coach, Dizzle, substitute for Magnet after he contracted appendicitis, leaving Fnatic a man down in the Season 8 Finals, where they surprisingly upset against Evil Geniuses. Virtue officially replaced NeophyteR after the latter left in early March 2019 after having Virtue play for him on many events since his signing. On 12 March 2019, Fnatic signed Ryan "Speca" Ausden as a sixth player after Virtue filled NeophyteR's spot. On 19 May 2019, Fnatic placed 3–4th in the Season 9 Finals after beating their rivals, PET Nora-Rengo in the quarter finals but losing to eventual champions
Team Empire A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...
. Fnatic placed 13–16th in the Six Major Raleigh 2019, falling to both DarkZero Esports and FaZe Clan without taking a single map. At the Season 10 APAC Finals, Singaporean Aerowolf upset against Fnatic, winning 2–1 and stopping Fnatic from qualifying to the Season 10 Finals and possibly prevented them from reaching the Six Invitational 2020. After a disappointing result at the Season 10 APAC Finals, RizRaz and Speca both left, with the former retiring from competitive ''Rainbow Six Siege''. They were replaced by Tex "Tex" Thompson from fellow Australian Pro League team, Team Sinister, and the only notable Chinese player in ''Rainbow Six Siege,'' Patrick "MentalistC" Fan from Aerowolf. At the Six Invitational 2020, Fnatic stunned all by making it out of the "Group of Death" which contained Team Empire, DarkZero, and FaZe Clan, who were all considered to be the top of their regions. Fnatic later defeated reigning two-time world champions, G2, before falling to BDS Esport. After the Six Invitational, Virtue was acquired by G2 making the first ever APAC to EU transfer in ''Rainbow Six'' competitive history. Acez was moved returned to the main roster to replace Virtue after he was previously moved to a substitute rule.


Current roster


Valorant

On February 2021, Fnatic entered Valorant by acquiring the SUMN FC roster. Following mixed results, the organisation signed MAGNUM and Derke leading up to the VCT Stage 2 Challengers 2 event, replacing Moe40 and tsack. The roster finished first following a 3-1 victory against
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team L ...
, but lost 2-3 to the same team in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers Finals. By placing second in this event, Fnatic qualified for the VCT Stage 2 Masters tournament in Reykjavik,
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
. In Iceland, Fnatic finished second following a 0-3 loss against the North American side Sentinels. On 6 August 2021, MAGNUM extended their contract until 2024. Despite weaker performances in other tournaments, Fnatic qualified for 2021 Valorant Champions on circuit points, where they finished 5-8th following a 1-2 loss against KRÜ Esports. Ahead of the 2022 season, Fnatic signed BraveAF to replace Doma. BraveAF was suspended from the roster on 30 March 2022 following a leaked conversation regarding the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
. BraveAF later stated that " We had a little chat before 24th of feb and I wrote her in the morning of 24th feb to know if she’s alright.", stating that he is for peace. Fearoth joined the team on loan from Alliance as a replacement ahead of the 2022 Valorant Champions Tour Stage 2 Masters in Reykjavik. H1ber was loaned from KOI following a positive
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
test for Derke. Fnatic finished 11-12th at the event following a 0-2 loss against the Japanese ZETA Division. On 10 May 2022, Fnatic signed Enzo (previously known as Fearoth), as a full-time member, as well as Alfajer to complete the roster. MAGNUM left the team on 9 June to join KOI. The new roster finished first at the EMEA Stage 2 Challengers after beating FunPlus Phoenix 3-0 in the finals, handing them a direct invite to 2022 Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters tournament. Fnatic finished fourth following a 1-2 loss against FunPlus Phoenix. On 21 September 2022, Fnatic was selected as a partner to compete in the Valorant Champions Tour EMEA. Following this announcement, Mistic and Enzo both announced free agency from the organization and were placed on the bench.


Current roster


Former divisions


''Clash Royale''

On 3 April 2018, Fnatic announced that it was entering and competing in the upcoming '' Clash Royale'' League. They finished 7th in the group stage. In ''Clash Royale'' League Season 2, Fnatic finished 4th in the Group Stage of West Region, thereby failing to qualify for finals.


''Heroes of the Storm''

On 9 October 2014, Fnatic expanded into ''Heroes of the Storm'', announcing a temporary team for the BlizzCon Exhibition Tournament, featuring key players from the ''StarCraft II'' and ''League of Legends'' competitive scenes (Johan Lucchesi, Kim Hammar, Manuel Mildenberger, Cristian Lippa and Joaquim Fitas). After this event, there was a rotation of new players, notably Jonathan Gunnarsson, Simon Svensson, Thomas Cailleux, Alexandre Laignel or Lawrence Harper. The team won nearly every HOTS tournament in 2017, but the game slowly began to lose its popularity and player base. Fnatic disbanded its ''Heroes of the Storm'' division on 19 December 2018.


''Smite''

On 8 November 2014, Fnatic signed its first Smite team, acquiring the roster of Exposed Secrets. The team made it to the semifinals of the Season 1 EU regional Championship but did not manage to qualify for the SMITE World Championship. On 23 December 2014 the team disbanded. On 6 March 2015 Fnatic announced signing the roster of
SK Gaming SK Gaming is a professional esports organization based in Germany that has teams across the world competing in different titles. SK is particularly known for their success in '' Counter-Strike'' (CS) tournaments. SK's Brazilian ''CS'' team wo ...
. The team competed in the Smite Pro League and finished 5th in the Summer Finals, winning $18,250. For the Season 3 Spring Split, Fnatic announced the addition of BigManTingz and Jiffy to the team after Badgah and CaptainTwig left at the start of 2016. The team finished the season in 8th place with an 8–20 record. The Fnatic SMITE team disbanded on 18 July 2016.


''ShootMania Storm''

In November 2012, Fnatic announced that they picked up a '' ShootMania Storm'' team. The team recruited Kévin "Strenx" Baéza, a former member of their previous ''Quake'' team, as well as two new players, Maikel "LeKaiM" Peeters and Jean Pierre "JiePie" Janssen. The trio won numerous small cups, and the Shootmania Launch Party, where they won $30,000. In December, Christoffer "Luxxiz" Losell joined the team after the departure of LeKaiM. On 8 January 2014 Fnatic announced the departure of their ShootMania squad and the closure of their Shootmania division, stating a decline in quantity and quality of ShootMania tournaments as the main reason.


Real-time strategy games

With DXRacer joining the list of sponsors, Fnatic decided to expand to
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
. On 19 March 2012 they announced that they would open a Fnatic Gaming House in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
. They became the first foreign team to establish a permanent training facility for players in Seoul. Fnatic then acquired several talented players from the Korean StarCraft II scene. In January, "DeParture" and Warcraft legend "Moon", and "aLive" moved into the gaming house. They were coached by Hwanni, who also joined Fnatic that month. Later, OZ and Luvsic signed a contract with Fnatic. In 2012, Rain announced his retirement and left the team, followed by Byul, Ares and Moon. Only two players were left in Korea, forcing Fnatic to announce their closure of their gaming house in Seoul and the end of their contracts with aLive and OZ. Harstem was later promoted from the academy to the main roster, and the team picked up SaSe, another well known player in the scene.


''PUBG Mobile''

On 18 October 2019, Fnatic entered the '' PUBG Mobile'' scene after signing the roster of
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
n team XSpark. Following the acquisition, Fnatic announced plans to construct a gaming facility in India. On 28 November 2019, Fnatic underwent a roster change with Inyourdream being replaced by Ash along with Pratik "Aurum" Mehra being brought in as a coach. On 22 December 2019, the team won its first offline event at the PUBG Mobile All Stars in
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...
, India. On 27 January 2020, Fnatic began training at a temporary boot camp in
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
. On 24 May 2021, Fnatic disbanded their PUBG Mobile roster after the game was banned in India due to tensions between
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
and India. PUBG Mobile was released in India by the Chinese
conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...
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, and the company was banned in India due to data privacy issues.


Tournament results


References


External links

* {{Rocket League Companies established in 2004 Counter-Strike teams Defunct and inactive fighting game player sponsors Esports teams based in England Heroes of the Storm teams League of Legends European Championship teams Smite (video game) teams StarCraft II teams Dota teams Quake teams Defunct and inactive Overwatch teams World of Warcraft teams Defunct and inactive Hearthstone teams Rocket League teams Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege teams Valorant teams British Internet groups