Afreeca Freecs Ben officially retires from pro League of Legends

Afreeca Freecs’ support Nam “Ben” Dong-hyun has chosen to retire from professional League of Legends to focus on his family. 

In a recent statement, Ben officially announced his retirement because he wants to spend more time with his daughter and wife. Ben will be going back to China together with his wife, after playing for LCK’s Afreeca Freecs since December 2019. Before joining Afreeca, Ben has played in the LPL for teams such as Invictus Gaming, Team WE, and Top Esports.   

According to Korizon’s Kevin Kim, Ben mentioned in his statement that his time on Afreeca Freecs has been great and that he got along very well with his teammates. The former support also praised the coaching staff for teaching him many things, especially head coach Choi “iloveoov” Yeon-sung. 

“I hope League of Legends continues to flourish for a long time,” Ben said in his statement. “While I couldn’t be a professional player in Korea for a long time, it was a very fun experience, and a job I wanted to do.”

Throughout his career, Ben has won the 2017 LPL Spring Split with Team WE followed up by a semifinal at the Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds the same year. He has been playing in the top of LPL for several teams and ended his career with Afreeca Freecs in the LCK, but didn’t manage to qualify for the 2020 World Championship.

Afreeca finished sixth in the 2020 LCK Spring Split, followed up by a better performance in spring where the team made it to the playoffs. Sadly, Afreeca was knocked out in the second round to Gen.G. 

Afreeca Freecs looking to rebuild roster for 2021 LCK season

Going into the 2021 LCK season, Afreeca will look to rebuild most of its roster. The players that are left are mid laner Song “Fly” Yong-jun and top laner Kim “Kiin” Gi-in, who looks to be the players that the team will build around. 

The offseason has already started so Afreeca will likely be looking to sign new players within the foreseeable future.