Fnatic will reshuffle their League team before LEC Spring after a disappointing showing in the Winter split, according to various reports.
With the LEC Spring split just two weeks away, Fnatic are moving on from top laner Martin ‘Wunder’ Hansen, support Rúben ‘Rhuckz’ Barbosa, and head coach Gonçalo ‘Crusher’ Brandão, according to independent reporter Brieuc ‘Wooloo’ Seeger and Blix.gg.
The changes come after a disastrous Winter split by Fnatic, who finished ninth in the round-robin stage with two victories from nine games. It was the first time in Fnatic’s history that the team did not make the playoffs of Europe’s top League competition.
Fnatic are reportedly looking at academy duo Óscar ‘Oscarinin’ Muñoz and Henk ‘Advienne’ Reijenga to fill the vacant spots on the roster for the Spring split, Blix.gg reports. The latter has previous LEC experience, having played for EXCEL across two splits in 2021 and 2022.
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Fnatic’s disastrous split came against the backdrop of the hype generated by the return of AD Carry Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson, one of the most iconic figures in Western League of Legends. The Swedish player partnered with Rhuckz, who was promoted from the academy squad at the start of the year, in the bot lane. Wunder, jungler Iván ‘Razork’ Martín and mid laner Marek ‘Humanoid’ Brázda remained from the 2022 lineup, which had finished third in the Spring and Summer splits and ninth-tenth at Worlds.
The team could only muster wins against KOI and EXCEL in the round-robin stage of the new-look LEC, which sees the top eight teams progress to the group stage. At the end of the split, Fnatic team director Javier ‘Dardo’ Zafra admitted that the team was “completely dysfunctional”.
Fnatic are slated to face EXCEL in their first match of the Spring split, scheduled for March 11.
