Zen mistakenly pictured in Team Liquid jersey on AI-assisted EWC billboard

With the Esports World Cup in full swing and the Rocket League portion of the event set to start on August 08, former World Champion Alexis "zen" Bernier has been mistakenly pictured on an AI-assisted advertisement billboard wearing a Team Liquid jersey in the Paris Metro. The 19-year-old has competed for Team Vitality for close to his entire professional career and is widely regarded as one of the organization's franchise stars. The billboard promotes tickets for the EWC at its location in the Porte de Versailles Expo. It is part of a large promotional campaign orchestrated by the EWC foundation in the build-up to the event, advertising on the back of buses, in metro stations, and on roadside billboards across the city.

Team Liquid plays a prominent role in the EWC. The Dutch organization won three game titles in the EWC 2025, finishing second-place behind Team Falcons in the Club Championship ranking to earn $4,000,000 from the prizepool offered to competing organizations. Despite this, Team Liquid has never fielded a team for Rocket League in the EWC. They departed the scene following the conclusion of Gamers8 2023, citing difficulties with the inner workings of the ecosystem.

The billboard promotes seven of EWC’s sponsorship partners, including its ‘nexus’ partner Qiddiyah City, its ‘elite’ partner the stc Group, and most prominently, one of its event suppliers Secret Lab. While a lot of attention was put into displaying these sponsorships, the billboard retains two of Team Liquid’s jersey sponsors, Monster Energy and Alienware. Both sponsors, which are not entirely clear, have been amalgamated on an AI-generated shoulder containing the Esports World Cup logo. Neither sponsor has been associated with zen’s organization Team Vitality or the EWC in the past.

Axel "Vatira" Touret has also been pictured on the same billboard wearing Karmine Corp’s pink EWC 2025 jersey with a Logitech sponsor on the sleeve, a collaboration that ended in January 2026 when Karmine Corp partnered with Team Razer. The billboard also presents Vatira playing with a keyboard and mouse, when the Frenchman has always competed with a controller. Questions will be raised not only over the sloppiness of this billboard but also over players’ image rights and their usage. Head of Prodigy Agency and zen’s agent Jérôme Coupez has already taken notice of the situation.