Ibai leaves the door open for Movistar KOI to keep the same LEC roster in 2027

Movistar KOI still hasn't answered one of the questions that stirs up the most noise in the Spanish-speaking community at the end of every season: what will happen to its League of Legends team in the LEC. As reported by Marca eSports, Ibai Llanos is not ruling out the club starting 2027 with the same pieces that have made up the project this year, in other words, a full-roster renewal instead of the usual winter rebuild.

It may sound like a simple statement of intent, but in the LEC ecosystem, where the transfer market is practically a parallel sport, a club with KOI's weight considering keeping all of its players is news in itself. It affects the players themselves, the coaching staff, a fanbase that has invested its emotions in this lineup and, by extension, all the content creators who make a living covering the day-to-day of the European league.

What you need to know

• Marca eSports reports that Ibai is not ruling out starting 2027 with the same LEC roster.
• There is no official confirmation: this is an open door, not an announcement of signed renewals.
• Any continuity will depend on individual negotiations with each player and with the staff.
• Renewing an entire team is an unusual bet in a league accustomed to rebuilding lineups every season.
• The rest of the European market will be watching: if KOI keeps its players, there are fewer pieces available for everyone else.

Continuity versus rebuilding

Every end of season in the LEC brings the same dilemma. Some organizations prefer to tear the house down and build it back up, chasing the player who raises the ceiling in every role. Others choose to give a group time to mature together. The first path sells headlines and instant hype; the second sells something less visible but just as valuable: synergies already built, smooth in-game communication and a bench that doesn't have to start from scratch in January.

What makes the Movistar KOI case interesting is that the door is being opened by Ibai himself, the most visible face of the project. For the person ultimately in charge to talk about continuity before the transfer dance even begins is a sign of confidence in the locker room, but it's also a message to the market: as of today, KOI is not in auction mode. That doesn't mean there won't be changes, just that a rebuild is not the starting point.

Who this decision affects

The players, first and foremost. Knowing that the organization is considering keeping the core together gives them stability and lets them negotiate from a very different position than someone who knows their spot is up in the air. The coaching staff, too, because planning a preseason with familiar players is far more efficient than designing a system from zero for people who don't know each other yet.

The fans, because projects with an identity are built on recognizable faces, not on lineups that change every twelve months. And the competition, because in a market with as few spots as the LEC, every player a club retains is one fewer player for its rivals. If KOI locks in its roster early, it forces everyone else to make their moves with fewer options on the table.

Our take

At Underworld Lordz, we welcome the fact that a Spanish-speaking club is talking about continuity instead of joining the frenzy of change for change's sake. Anyone who has competed on a team, whether in an amateur tournament or a professional league, knows how much it takes to build trust within a roster: the callouts that are only half understood, the macro decisions argued over during the pause and the scrim routines that only work when everyone is pulling in the same direction. You can't buy that with a star signing.

That said, we also have to be critical. Continuity only makes sense if it comes with a clear plan to improve. Keeping the same five players and expecting a different result without changing anything is a recipe for stagnation. If KOI bets on the core, the pressure shifts to the staff and the sporting management: more resources for analysis, more individual work with each player and concrete goals the fans can measure.

And for content creators, this news has an interesting nuance. A stable roster is easier to tell stories about, it creates characters with an arc and it allows long-term narratives to be built. The transfer market delivers viral clips for a week; a lineup people know and follow delivers content all year long. That Ibai, of all people, sees it this way doesn't surprise us one bit.

What do you think?

The community is split between those calling for patience with the current core and those who want to see fresh blood in the LEC. At Underworld Lordz, we lean toward giving the project time, but we want to hear from you: should Movistar KOI renew its entire roster for 2027, or is it time to move some pieces? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.