H2k is one of the longest-running organizations in European League of Legends. After competing in the lower tournaments for years, the team finally made the LCS in the beginning of 2015 and had a two-year run in 2016 and 2017 as one of the league’s best teams.
This year, the organization rebooted the roster amid questions over the financial viability of the LCS. With the EU LCS converting to a franchised league for next year, H2k’s troubles seemed to place its application in jeopardy. But based on a report from ESPN, the team has sealed a partnership with French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain to strengthen its franchising bid.
PSG has fielded a European League team before, when it sponsored an eponymous Challenger Series squad in 2017. But after crashing out of that league, the organization decided to turn its eye to other esports. Those other sports have been more successful of late: PSG’s co-branded Dota 2 team, PSG.LGD made it to the final at The International last month before losing to OG.
Now, the org is hoping it will make it back to the top of European League with the H2k application. According to ESPN, around two dozen organizations have applied to the franchised league, which is expected to have 10 spots. This will make it a fairly competitive process, though it pales in comparison to the over 100 organizations that were reported to have applied to the NA LCS last year.
