The purchase of Schalke 04's LEC spot by Team BDS for $31.54 million made headlines yesterday, making it the second-largest League of Legends eSports franchise transaction in Western history.

Alexandre Lopez, Team BDS' head of strategy, said that they are happy to finally be able to compete in such a demanding and fascinating competition. This was a huge step forward for BDS, and they aspire to be among the finest League of Legends teams. He appreciated Riot Games and FC Schalke 04 for having their faith in BDS team, and further said that they want to continue FC Schalke 04's efforts to establish eSports as a distinct discipline.

However, many eSports fans may not have heard of Team BDS before today. Here's what we know so far about the LEC team that will compete next year.

Team BDS is an esports organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, that fields teams in Fortnite, VALORANT, Rocket League, League of Legends, FIFA, Rainbow Six Siege, and Trackmania. It was founded in 2018. Marc “MarC By 8.” Domingo, Evan “M0nkey M00n” Rogez, and Alex “Extra” Paoli, the Rocket League team's backbone, have won multiple events, including the RLCS Season X Fall European Major in 2020 and the RLCS Season X Winter European Major in 2021. In R6, BDS has had some success, finishing second to G2 in the European League 2020 Finals in January 2021.

“BDS is a club that helps talents flourish, with the goal of reaching the greatest levels of competition,” according to BDS' official website. In the 2022 Spring Split, the Swiss team will make their LEC debut.

BDS is looking to hire some of Schalke 04's staff and is likely to develop a brand new LoL squad from the scratch. The team's current amateur roster includes:

  • French - Hicham "Jaylink" Malki (AD carry)
  • Portuguese -  Francisco "Xico" Antunes (mid laner)
  • Hungarian - Subicz "bluerzor" Dániel (jungler)
  • Polish - Marcin "iBo" Lebuda (top laner)
  • Polish - Robert "Erdote" Nowak (support)