After several weeks of intense discussions, disagreements, and a surprise withdrawal by the UFCEP from the race to manage the French selection for the
Esports Nations Cup, the organizers have made their decision. In the end,
Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim has been appointed National Team Manager, meaning he will be responsible for finding coaches for the various French teams across ENC disciplines, as well as helping build the lineups and manage the players. The competition, set to take place in Saudi Arabia from November 2 to 29, will be the largest nation-based competition ever organized, with hundreds of countries participating in the qualifiers across nearly 16 games, including
League of Legends, VALORANT, Counter-Strike 2, and
Rocket League.
As
Sheep Esports reported few days ago, the
Esports Foundation, which oversees the ENC and the Esports World Cup,
faced difficulties in defining the French representative. Last January, the Saudi organization launched a global call for applications to find, in each of the 206 recognized countries or territories, a National Team Partner and a National Team Manager. The EF then announced it had received nearly 600 submissions across 152 countries, before accepting around 100 applications for the next stage, including France Esports and the UFCEP for France. Ultimately, and as L’Équipe detailed in two recent articles, the groups were unable to reach an agreement, failing to find common ground to submit a unified proposal, which is what Saudi Arabia had hoped for. As announced by the Saudi organizer on Wednesday, March 25, there will be no national partner in France.
A complicated story
This led to Wednesday, March 18, the deadline set by the Esports Foundation for both entities to reach an agreement, which did not happen. As the French outlet reported on Thursday, this deadlock led the Saudi organizers to favor neither of the two candidacies and instead rely solely on a National Team Manager who would act as the main reference point. That is how YellOwStaR, one of the historic figures of European and global League of Legends, ended up taking this position after having applied for it. He was not publicly affiliated with either of the two French bids, with France Esports having appointed Sébastien "
Ceb" Debs, founder of OG Esports and two-time Dota 2 champion, and the UFCEP having chosen
Matthieu Péché, current manager of Team Vitality’s Counter-Strike 2 roster and Olympic medalist in canoe slalom.
His role will therefore be to help assemble the various French national teams, a challenging task that begins immediately given the tight deadlines of the Esports Nations Cup. YellOwStaR must define, before the end of March, the coaches who will support the different French lineups competing in the qualifiers and in the main event. Then, together, they will have until the end of April to finalize the players across all games France chooses to compete in. The timeline is tight, but it is the same for all nations wishing to take part in the competition.
YellOwStar for the win
As a result, France is unlikely to have a national partner for this first edition. Esports stakeholders in the country will have roughly two years, ahead of 2028 and the second edition, to reach an agreement and present a stable and concrete project. National partners are important, as they have key responsibilities, including coordinating national representation, supervising and supporting coaches per game, and acting as a liaison with publishers and clubs. They also help mobilize local communities through marketing campaigns, social media, and collaborations with creators and institutions.
With a competitive career that began in 2010 at aAa and ended in 2016,
YellOwStaR is one of the legends from the early days of League of Legends, notably reaching two World Championship semifinals in 2013 and 2015 with Fnatic. With the British club, he secured five EU LCS titles before stepping down in 2016 to join Team LDLC’s coaching staff. He eventually returned for a full season. He picked up the mouse again in 2020, still with the French organization, then known as LDLC OL, with whom he achieved success at a French LAN event at Lyon e-Sports and, most notably, a victory in the spring split of the European Masters. As recently as 2025, YellOwStaR continues to compete, with a brief stint in the Nexus Tour, the third division of the French scene.
