by Team LDLC, one of the oldest French esports organizations, announced on Wednesday that they were shutting down all esports operations.
The team’s ownership group, LDLC Group, also revealed that it would end its partnership with Olympique Lyonnais’ parent company, OL Group.
Team LDLC entered the esports space in 2010 and have since fielded legendary rosters and given amazing Counter-Strike tournament runs. Electronics retailer LDLC founded the team, and asides from their popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup, Team LDLC have fielded squads in FIFA, NBA 2K, and League of Legends.
Team LDLC collaborated with the French football team Olympique Lyonnais in January 2020 through OL Group and rebranded to LDLC OL. The organization also worked with French ex-NBA player Tony Parker’s academy program.
Lyon’s esports division, known as OL eSports, had been in operation three years before the partnership and mostly competed in the FIFA scene. During their collaboration, Lyon revealed that it intended to organize major international esports events at a proposed 16,000-seater multi-purpose stadium.
In the Tuesday post, LDLC Group revealed that the partnership and its involvement with esports had officially ended. Team LDLC will officially conclude all esports-related operations by July.
“While teams enjoy wide notoriety and recognition among passionate gamers, they have not – despite the efforts made – managed to find a sufficient place with the general public,” the release read.
“Thus, the LDLC Group and the OL Group decided in advance to end their LDLC OL partnership from the end of July 2023. The end of this partnership will also mark for LDLC Event its withdrawal from the esports scene and its operational activities in this sector.”
The group extended its thanks to all LDLC Event teams as well as the LDLC OL for their contributions to the organization and wished them well in future endeavors.
During their early years, Team LDLC became known for winning events like the DreamHack Winter 2014 Major, making them one of the 13 squads to win a Major CS:GO championship. They won the event with a star-studded lineup that included Vincent “Happy” Cervoni Schopenhauer, Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, and Richard “shox” Papillon.
Team LDLC sold the lineup to Team EnVyUs a few months after the tournament, who, in turn, won the DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca Major in 2015.
The French team also launched other notable CS:GO players such as Kenny’ kennyS’ Schrub, Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans, and Dan’ apEX’ Madesclaire. Team LDLC won the European Master tournament multiple times with their League of Legends lineup and qualified from the French regional league.
Over the past five years, Team LDLC started withdrawing from the esports scene and fielded only CS, LoL, and FIFA teams. They previously had a lineup in Call of Duty, Fortnite, StarCraft 2, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and the eSports World Rally Championship.
They failed to attend nearly any tier-one CS:GO tournament since they were dropped from the ESL Pro League tournament in 2018.
With the announcement, Team LDLC joined several other esports organizations to cease operations in the past few months.
Their CS:GO lineup are currently set to compete in the ESL Challenger League from June 8 to 11, which will likely be their last event as a team. Team LDLC’s League of Legends team will presumably participate when the LFL 2023 Summer Split kicks off in June.
