One of the most well-known names in Brazilian esports played his last competitive match yesterday.
Leonardo “ZiGueira” Duarte has retired from professional Rainbow Six Siege, the player announced yesterday. He made this decision because he wants to live with his wife and start a family. They were living separately due to his career, according to a statement released by Team Liquid.
ZiGueira started his career in another shooter game, BattleField 4, where he represented Brazilian teams like paiN and Uranus. ZiGueira was one of the best Brazilian players in BattleField 4, despite never winning a big title.
After his BattleField 4 stint, ZiGueira transitioned to Rainbow Six Siege in 2015, a shooter that was starting to grow. “I started playing Battlefield professionally, and I was invited to test Rainbow Six,” ZiGueira said.
ZiGueira played Rainbow Six for paiN, Black Dragons, BRK, and Team Liquid, his last professional team. While playing for Liquid, ZiGueira won the biggest tournament of his career: the ESL Pro League season seven in May 2018, when Liquid went through Fnatic and Millenium, and beat PENTA, who were huge favorites at that time, in the grand finals.
ZiGueira plans to rest over the next month. “I just got married in January and we were living in different cities,” ZiGueira said. “I’m going to rest a little bit. Playing professionally is hard sometimes. I’m going to take three weeks or a month to rest. Then I’m going to build a gaming room.”
Although ZiGueira is retiring from the professional scene, he still wants to represent Liquid as a full-time streamer.