Fnatic reportedly set to appoint new LEC head coach
The team is reportedly making changes after a ninth-place finish in the LEC Winter Split.
Fnatic’s League of Legends team is reorganizing after one of the worst splits in the history of the organization from top to bottom. First, we heard reports that top laner Martin Wunder Hansen will be replaced and that Fnatic is reportedly parting ways with its head coach and rookie support Rúben Rhuckz Barbosa. And today, we learned who might be replacing the big shoes of Gonçalo Crusher Brandão in the second split of the 2023 LEC season.
Fnatics next head coach in the LEC will be Tomáš Nightshare Kněžínek, according to freelance investigative journalist Brieuc Seeger, otherwise known as LEC Wooloo.
[Sources] Nightshare
— LEC Wooloois the new Head Coach for Fnatic in the LEC. The former Immortals coach also had talks with Excel this offseason.
GrabbZ was also considered by Fnatic last week but he declined.
Fun fact: Nightshare is Freeze's twin brother. pic.twitter.com/E24CBr8sss(@LEC_Wooloo) February 28, 2023
Best known for being Immortals coach in both the LCS and Academy leagues between December 2020 and October 2022, Nightshare was also reportedly in talks with Excel but decided to go with Fnatic. In addition, Seeger reported that Fabian GrabbZ Lohmann was considered for the position of Fnatic’s head coach but the negotiations, for unknown reasons, fell flat.
The identical twin brother of a fabled League of Legends player and Evil Geniuses current coach Aleš Freeze Kněžínek, Nightshare started his professional career as a coach on Czech team Fraternitas in May 2016. For almost three years, Nightshare coached primarily Czech teams. In 2020, he was offered a position as a coach for Immortals Academy and was with the organization until last October.
Nightshare might be the fresh pair of eyes Fnatic needs after a tumultuous 2023 LEC Winter Split in which the team came in ninth place with a 2-7 record. The 2023 LEC Spring Split begins on March 11.