T1 Fans Flood Social Media After kkOma Announces Leave of Absence

T1 has announced that there will be a change in the team's roster. Their head coach, ‘kkOma’ Kim Jeong-gyun, will be taking a temporary leave of absence and will not participate in the upcoming 2026 LCK regular season. Earlier this year, the team's failure to qualify for the First Stand tournament had already disappointed fans. Now the changes in coaching have created doubts regarding T1's future performance in the regular season.

LoL T1 kkOma Leave of Absence Riles Up Fans

As the 2025 League of Legends Worlds champions, fans had high expectations regarding T1 this year. They had a flawless run in the group stage of the 2026 LCK Cup. But in the playoffs, they faltered against underdog teams like FEARX and Dplus, hence failing to qualify for the First Stand cross-regional tournament.

Despite having the best player in League of Legends, many fans had blamed these losses on T1's drafting issues and failure to adapt to the meta. Hence, kkOma and the coaching staff were already under scrutiny. With kkOma's exit and coach ‘Tom’ Im Jae-hyeon stepping in as interim head coach, fans took to social media to show concern for their team's performance going into the LCK 2026 regular season.

Many fans showcased their support for kkOma, appreciating the work he has done in building up T1's legacy in League of Legends, and wished for him to make a speedy return.

But a lot of them also felt relieved by LoL T1 kkOma's leave of absence. Many fans had blamed T1's draft issues in previous tournaments on him. They felt that it was the team's individual capabilities and perfect teamfight executions that had carried them to winning back-to-back-to-back World Championships. Hence, they hope that Tom's promotion to interim head coach will solve T1's drafting dilemma.

LCK's lacklustre performance in First Stand

Another reason T1 fans have become slightly cautious is due to the region's lackluster performance in the 2026 First Stand tournament. Both LCK representatives, Gen.G and FEARX, got clean-swept by G2 and were eliminated from the tournament. Not being able to win even one game against the LEC representative shocked League of Legends fans all around the world.

Hence, in the coming 2026 LCK regular season, a lot of focus will be on the team coaches and how they improve their strategies and drafts in the current patch 26.6. T1 fans have put their hopes on interim head coach Tom to uplift the team's performance. The team had already showcased their potential in the LCK Cup. Many believe this coaching change might help them win the upcoming domestic and international titles, while some are keeping a cautious attitude, hoping the change does not disrupt the team's synergy.

The LCK 2026 regular season starts from April 1, 2026, and all eyes will be on T1 as they take on KT Rolster that day. Stay tuned to Sportsdunia to catch the latest updates about League of Legends and other trending gaming news from all around the globe.