Bjergsen announces retirement from competitive play, moves to coaching

Veteran mid-laner Søren ‘Bjergsen’ Bjerg has announced his retirement from professional League of Legends. The Dane spent the majority of his eight-year-long career playing in the North American LCS with Team SoloMid.

In an emotional video from TSM, the 24-year-old veteran reminisced over his journey, announcing the end to one of League’s most celebrated and storied careers.

End of an Era

Bjergsen is a trailblazer in his own right, as he was one of the first European players to successfully hop over the pond to the NA LCS. After playing with Copenhagen Wolves and Ninjas in Pyjamas, he joined TSM during the 2014 NA LCS season, replacing Andy “Reginald” Dinh as the teams’ starting mid lane. Together with TSM Bjergsen won a total of six LCS championships and an IEM trophy back in 2015, also acquiring four seasonal MVP awards along the way.

Unfortunately for the mid laner, TSM was never able to capture much international success. competing at Worlds five times, but never managing to make the deep run. This year might have been the most disappointing of them all, with TSM failing to record a single win in the LoL Worlds 2020 group stage.

Bjergsen has chiseled his name in League history as one of the most dominant and consistent mid laners the North America scene has ever witnessed. If one thing is certain, it’s that  TSM’s new mid laner will have some very big shoes to fill.

“It probably comes as a shock to a lot of you guys, and I especially don’t want it to seem like this is a sudden reaction to our poor World’s run. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time and especially in this last year. I almost even committed to the change in between Spring and Summer, but I really wanted to have a good season before becoming a coach”, Bjergsen said in his farewell announcement.

TSM’s New Head Coach

Even though Bjergsen retired as a player, he will still play a big role in TSM. The Dane will act as the team’s new head coach going into the 2021 season. Bjergsen’s notoriety as captain and veteran insight could make his transition into the new role a relatively easy one.

The player himself stated that he was doing a lot of coaching by being a veteran on the team, and that of his favorite aspects of playing was helping the team be on the same page and become better together.

With Bjergsen’s departure, TSM’s upcoming offseason might be the most important one in the team’s history.