European esports organisation MAD Lions KOI looks set to be rebranded simply to KOI for the 2025 LEC season, EMEA’s top-flight League of Legends competition.
The change was confirmed by KOI Founder Ibai Llanos during a live stream on Twitch.
Founded in 2017, MAD Lions KOI is an esports brand that originates from Spain. The team is known for being one of the most successful organisations in Spain, having competed in the SuperLiga, the country’s official League of Legends league.
MAD Lions entered the LEC in 2018 after its owners, OverActive Media, merged it with Splyce, allowing MAD Lions to acquire the LEC slot. In the LEC, MAD Lions has gone on to win three splits (2021 Spring, 2021 Summer and 2023 Spring) whilst also qualifying for the League of Legends World Championship each year since 2020.
In 2024, OverActive Media acquired two other Spanish organisations, Movistar Riders and KOI, adding the two brands to its roster of esports assets, which also includes Toronto Ultra and Toronto Defiant. In an initial announcement of the merger process in January, OverActive Media noted of a ‘global rebranding effort’ to unite all teams under a single brand by the end of 2024.
This is not the first time KOI will be a standalone team in the LEC. In 2022, KOI and Rogue’s parent organisation Infinite Reality announced a partnership, sunsetting the Rogue brand in favour of KOI. However, after a short period of participating in the LEC as KOI, the partnership ended in November 2023. This resulted in the return of Rogue as Infinite Reality’s LEC franchise before OverActive Media acquired KOI and added its brand to its existing MAD Lions brand.
MAD Lions KOI or OverActive Media have yet to share any official information regarding the name change and rebranding.
