Movistar KOI facing serious allegations of mistreatment, negligence, and abuse

League of Legends

7 May

Martin Arévalo-Östberg

After winning their last three consecutive matches of the Regular Season, Movistar KOI are gaining momentum at the LEC Spring 2025. Not all is sunshine and rainbows over at the MKOI camp, though, as the Spanish organization is currently facing troubling allegations surrounding the team’s internal operations.

The issues, which seem to have arisen at the team house for Movistar KOI’s League of Legends squad, were brought to light by none other than the team’s own fan club of Las Karpas, who cited cases of “mistreatment, negligence, and abuse.”

The Allegations

In a statement made out by Las Karpas on X (Twitter), the fan club mentioned cases of all of the following taking place inside the Movistar KOI team house:

Players who fell ill, and were not taken to the doctor.
A cook carried out “unannounced tests” on the team’s AD carry, David "Supa" Martínez García, to figure out exactly which nuts he was allergic to.
Players found glass inside their food.
- After the person responsible was removed from the team, players had to eat take-out food for the remaining duration of Worlds 2024.
Players were intentionally pitted against one another as members of the staff constantly stirred conflict.
Head Coach Tomás "Melzhet" Campelos Fernández was denied part of a ‘performance bonus’ after he expressed his opinions about how to run on academy during a livestream.
Supa and support player Álvaro "Alvaro" Fernández del Amo were denied their own ‘performance bonuses’ after clashing with members of the staff
The team’s psychologist was consistently mistreated, underpaid, and undervalued. Melzhet even had to pay for said psychologist’s flight to get them to attend a bootcamp with the team after the organization refused to do so.

For now, it remains unclear whether this is a complete account of all the issues that have taken place within the team, or just the tip of the iceberg.

Amid wins and smiles, trouble appears to be brewing at the Movistar KOI camp. (Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games)

Though one of the most devoted fan clubs in the League of Legends esports scene, Las Karpas also issued a warning during their statement:

"If the people responsible do not come forward and publicly give honest explanations, we will begin active protests. We will not allow health, dignity, and respect to be trampled on by those who were supposed to protect them."

The CEO Responds

It did not take long after the allegations were brought up for Adam Adamou, CEO of OverActive Media (Movistar KOI’s parent company) to come out with a statement of his own. With the severity of some of these issues in mind, Adamou promised action will be taken, reminding members of Movistar KOI that “nobody is untouchable” as the time nears to “make some difficult decisions.”

Moreover, founder of Movistar Rider’s Fernando Piquer recently announced that all of MKOI's executive and sports management will begin to be handled from Spain for the first time since the Movistar Riders and KOI merger took place in early 2024.

Did Ibai Push for Change?

Ibai Llanos has long stood as one of the most renowned names in the Spanish esports and content creation scenes. It was back in 2021, though, when Ibai deep-dove into esports by co-founding the KOI brand, which has seen him remain a co-owner of Movistar KOI to this day.

Now, the Spanish scene was taken by storm when, during an episode of the Al Lío podcast, it was revealed that Ibai was now considering leaving the organization if things didn’t change before the end of the year. This decision would have come off the back of “bad practices by the Mad Lions side within KOI, both in VALORANT and in League of Legends.”

Though the situation remains murky, more light is constantly being shed in regard to the exact nature and extent of these "bad practices." For now, the Movistar KOI League of Legends squad is headed for the final week of the Regular Season at the LEC Spring having already secured their spot in the Playoffs.

While the team will do their best to stay focused on the remaining steps of competition, the future remains tainted with uncertainty for the Movistar KOI organization.

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Featured image credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games

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