Sources: Academy teams allowed to compete in the LEC Winter tournament

This was one of the major questions that emerged when Sheep Esports reported that ERL teams would gain access to the LEC Winter Tournament through the EMEA Masters: if an academy team were to win the Summer edition, would it be allowed to participate in the competition? According to Sheep Esports sources, confirming information first reported by Paul Arrivé from L’Équipe, the answer is yes.

This means that Karmine Corp Blue or Los Heretics, one of the two remaining LEC academy teams in the EMEA Masters Summer, will take part in the kickoff at the start of the 2026 season alongside Los Ratones and all LEC teams. Technically, these academy teams could also qualify for the First Stand, the year’s first international tournament, should they go on to win the event. The EMEA Masters finals will therefore decide the twelfth team to qualify for the tournament.

Last week, Sheep Esports reported that Unicorns of Love would qualify if academy teams were not allowed to participate. At the time, the situation was unclear to our sources, who stated that such a scenario was unlikely. Indeed, there’s a potential risk where a team could be incentivized to lose a meaningless late-season match to help its sister team secure qualification. It remains to be seen what measures Riot Games will implement to prevent such a situation. However, it is now confirmed that academy teams will be able to participate.

However, according to the same sources, certain restrictions — yet to be uncovered — are expected to be introduced, possibly including an obligation to retain a specific number of players from the winning roster. This may explain why, according to Sheep Esports sources, Los Heretics have not yet made significant moves on the transfer market since the start of the offseason.

This would not, however, be the first time in League of Legends history that two teams belonging to the same organization have competed in the same league. In the early years of competitive LoL, some of the most prominent examples came from South Korea, with two SK Telecom T1 rosters (S and K) and two Samsung lineups (White and Blue). Since 2015, however, Riot Games has prohibited organizations from fielding multiple sister teams — a practice that has since disappeared from the professional ecosystem.