Gwanghwamun’s first street cheer to win Rold Cup is a ‘frenzy’ (종합).

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Mi-ryeong = “I almost cried at the players’ winning remarks. I realized anew that many more people love eSports than I thought when I saw the street cheering.”

On the evening of the 19th, when the Korean team T1 defeated the Chinese team Weibo Gaming and clinched the championship cup in the League of Legends (LoL) World Championship (LoL World Cup) finals, Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square also turned into a cauldron of excitement.

Citizens gathered in front of the four large screens installed in the square, armed with thick padding, heat packs, hats, and scarves, forgot about the cold and reveled in joy.

The LoL World Cup, held every November, is the most prestigious international club competition in LoL and the largest eSports event in the world in terms of audience numbers. It is the first time in five years since the 2018 tournament that the LoL World Cup has been held in Korea, and it is the first time in nine years that the final has been held in Seoul.

‘LoL’ is a game where five people form a team and win by breaking through the opponent’s defense and destroying the ‘Nexus’ building deep in the base, and it is called the ‘LoL World Cup’ in reference to the ‘World Cup’.

Reflecting the recent eSports boom, this is the first time that a LoL World Cup street cheering event, not a World Cup, has been held in Gwanghwamun Square.

The 5,000-seat grandstand (including standing seats) that opened at noon was already full around 4:30 p.m., about an hour before the start of the game. There were also those who waited for entry from 6 a.m. to watch the game from the front.

The organizers estimated that about 40,000 people visited the venue throughout the day.

Around 5:30 p.m., when the Korean team players entered the stadium and the players’ names were called one by one, the fans poured out cheers, hitting their cheer sticks.

Yoo So-hyun (25), who wore a T1 uniform and made a headband with a cheering stick, said, “Since the game is held in Korea, I wanted to cheer on the street with everyone shouting. I’m originally a T1 fan, but every time I go to watch the game, we lose, so I came to Gwanghwamun Square,” she said with a smile.

Around 8:10 p.m., when T1 won a landslide victory with a set score of 3:0, Gwanghwamun Square was filled with the cheers of fans shouting “T1! T1”.

Lee Ye-ji (19), who said she took the college entrance exam this year, said, “I finished the college entrance exam and came out to cheer on the street, and I got to see the Korean team win.” “This is the first street cheering event in eSports, but I thought that Korea’s eSports has developed a lot because more people came than I thought,” she said.

Choi Hyun-soo (21) said, “My parents’ generation came out to Gwanghwamun Square to cheer for the World Cup or the Olympics, but it’s amazing that so many people came out to cheer on the street for a game.”

Woo Kwang-hee (27), who came from Nowon-gu, Seoul, said, “I didn’t even know it was cold because of the cheering heat. It’s a result I really wanted, and it’s joyous and touching. Last year, it was ‘Jungkukma’ (the important thing is not to break your heart), but this year, we finally broke China, so it became ‘Jungkukma’ (break China),” he laughed.

Foreign fans wearing T1 uniforms and hats were also noticeable here and there.

Gina Kretzmeier (24), who came to Korea as an exchange student from Germany last summer, said, “I’m cheering for Faker, the first eSports player I ever got to know.” “Looking at the cheering atmosphere today, Korea’s eSports fever is incomparable to Germany,” she said.

In line with this year’s LoL World Cup, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has transformed the area around Gwanghwamun Square into a space for eSports and games for three days from the 16th to the 19th.

In order to prevent safety accidents due to crowd congestion, safety personnel and police forces were also deployed around Gocheok Sky Dome, the venue for the finals, and Gwanghwamun Square, where the street cheering event was held.

already@yna.co.kr