Time magazine ranks Faker among the 100 most influential people in sports
Time magazine released its inaugural version of TIME100 Sports, a list of the 100 most influential figures in sports. The TIME100 Sports 2026 features legends of football, basketball, racing, and many other Olympic disciplines. Alongside them stands
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
as the sole esports representative.
Time magazine features Faker in its TIME100 Sports piece
The Unkillable Demon King is listed as one of the sports “icons” in 2026. In their description of the LCK legend, Time magazine called him the ‘Unkillable Demon King,’ adding that he was widely regarded as the ‘best esports player of all time.’
Esports have grown from niche, community-based competitions to international stadium-filling spectacles. In 1972, the first tournament was held at Stanford University, and the winner received a mere
Rolling Stone
subscription.
Now, the industry is projected to reach $7.46 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.
Faker’s net worth
showcased how he has benefited from this explosion: T1 and BMW gifted him a luxury sedan for his 25th birthday, and he now owns an equity stake in his team, which has signed endorsement deals with Nike, Red Bull, Mercedes-Benz, and other brands. Lee also owns a nine-story commercial building in Seoul called Faker Tower.”
How Faker has become a mainstream name
T1’s mid laner is the undisputed icon of League of Legends. However, beyond simply being a name in the game, he’s become one of the most famous figures in South Korea as a whole. In fact, this is one more of many of Sang-hyeok’s appearances on broader media in the past months.
Two months ago, Faker made the cover of Fortune Korea’s anniversary issue. Last December, he met with the country’s prime minister Kim Min-seok to have a conversation.
Faker is the only esports atthlete in the Time’s top 100. However, he sets the path for broader recognition and integration of esports as part of the mainstream culture. In 2026, League of Legends will be a discipline at the Asian Games for the third edition in a row.
This weekend, Faker will compete in the
Road to MSI
to earn T1 a spot at the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational.
Featured
image source: Red Bull
Wasif Ahmed
About Wasif Ahmed
Wasif Ahmed is the Lead Esports Editor for WIN.gg. He has been covering esports for nearly eight years, although his gaming journey started much earlier, when he was just four years old and was introduced to Road Rash on a dusty PC. Hit him up on X to talk about esports, why partnership models are the best fit for esports games, or if Halo 7 has finally been announced.
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