ULF Esports jungler Tayfun "Typhoon" Gümüş publicly spoke out earlier today about unpaid salaries within the team, and Sheep Esports has independently confirmed through multiple anonymous sources that players and coaching staff from the League Of Legends team are indeed owed significant delayed payments.
After joining esports as a new organization last year, ULF Esports competed in the Turkish Championship League (TCL). There, they finished third in the Summer Split with a roster of Chasy, Typhoon, Gori, Kaori, and Farfetch. The team qualified for EMEA Masters as a result, but failed to advance past the Swiss Stage. Sheep Esports’ sources say the payment issue has been raised internally for months, but ULF repeatedly pushed back deadlines, promising that money would arrive “next week” or “at the end of the month,” without delivering.
Management also allegedly told the roster that Riot Games was aware of the situation, though Sheep Esports was unable to confirm whether this was factual or simply communicated to reassure the roster. Sources added that when players considered going public about the problem, ULF warned them that speaking out would “put them in a bad situation.”
Typhoon’s public statement
In his public message, Typhoon shared many of the same concerns described to Sheep Esports: “In the summer of 2025, I experienced many problems with ULF Esports… I had the misfortune of working with a team that had such a malicious management.”
He said he joined the team despite knowing about early financial issues because he was assured payments would arrive quickly. According to him: “Gori–Chasy apparently haven’t been paid for 5–6 months, and for that reason they didn’t want to scrim.”
Typhoon states that the team received only one month of salary during the split, and that communication deteriorated after the season ended. He claims he was offered half of the remaining salary and asked to sign a statement saying he had “no other demands,” which he refused.
“They threatened us, saying going public would be bad for us.”
He concluded by expressing burnout and frustration with recurring non-payment issues in the ERL/TCL ecosystem.
A wider systemic issue
Payment delays have been repeatedly reported across the TCL and several ERLs this year, reflecting the broader financial struggles facing regional leagues. FOG Esports (AL) and BK ROG Esports (LFL) are among the teams that have also faced public accusations of delayed or missing payments in 2025.
Sheep Esports has no confirmed information about ULF’s VALORANT division, although Typhoon claims they also faced unpaid months. The VALORANT team recently qualified for VCT EMEA after winning Ascension.
As of publication, ULF Esports has not responded to a request for comment.
Update: Onuralp Mehmet Kurt, Founder of ULF Esports, publicly responded and denied the claims made about the organization’s payment delays. Sheep Esports stands by its reporting based on multiple independent and anonymous sources.
