The Polish “Ultraliga” is upside down. Two Chinese players who deliberately played poorly are suspected of match-fixing
The hotly debated scenes took place at the end of January in the match between the Iron Wolves and ESCA Gaming. In this match, Wolves players Wen ‘kylin’ Zheng and Shuai ‘Odin’ Wang had performed conspicuously poorly and had come under the scrutiny of the league officials.
“In the opinion of the league representatives, the performance of ‘kylin’ and ‘Odin’ violated Section 17.1.1. of the EMEA Regional League Rules,” said a statement from the Ultra League. The content of this rule: “Teams are expected to perform to the best of their ability at all times in league matches and avoid behavior that jeopardizes the actual or perceived integrity of the competition.” As a first consequence, Zheng and Wang were suspended for two matches while an investigation into the incidents took place.
Another Chinese professional makes serious allegations
Accusations quickly circulated online that the two newcomers had deliberately played badly due to an inglorious intention: match-fixing. Chinese player Song An ‘Warrior’ Chan in particular made serious accusations against the duo on “X”. For him, the wave of manipulation that has emerged in China in recent years with the Iron Wolfs mid laner and jungler has now spilled over into Europe
Chan even goes so far as to claim that Zheng and Wang, who were unknown names before joining the Iron Wolves, only came to Europe to distort the competition. Allegedly, a Chinese team owner of the Iron Wolves arranged the deal with the players, who are supposedly not active in eSports in China, in order to make money from the manipulated games.
Evidence leaves a lot to be desired
However, Chan cannot provide more than circumstantial evidence. Although there have indeed been numerous investigations into possible fraud in Chinese LoL eSports in recent years, Zheng and Wang played no role in them, as they did not even take place in eSports. A circumstance that may make their move to Europe seem unusual, but is far from sufficient to substantiate Chan’s comments. Instead, for example, private connections to any decision-makers could have made the switch possible
The evidence for the alleged Chinese owner in the background is also anything but watertight. In screenshots that do not show the name of the interviewee, another Iron Wolves player claims, according to ‘Warrior’, that a Chinese sponsor probably gave the team managers the idea of signing players from the Far East.
However, the anonymous person writes that they “suspect that the CEO and manager had the plan” to sign Chinese players. There is no mention of a Chinese owner directing the fortunes of the organization and selecting Zheng and Wang.
Former Lithuanian player Algirdas ‘ChosenOne’ Gricius is also listed as the team owner in relevant databases.
What Riot’s investigation revealed
The official investigation by the league and developer Riot Games also found no evidence of match-fixing. There was “insufficient evidence to warrant further disciplinary action”, the Ultra League announced, before the Iron Wolves also made a final statement: “With the outcome of Riot’s investigation, we at Iron Wolves have made the decision to continue the season in the Ultra League with ‘kylin’ and ‘Odin’.”
In this specific case, it can therefore be assumed that there was no match-fixing. In 2023, however, Dota 2, which was rocked by a betting scandal after which one of the suspects confessed, showed that this has now also arrived in eSports.
