Former Top Esports LoL coach Despa1r joins Weibo Gaming

Chinese League of Legends team Weibo Gaming bolstered their coaching staff on Tuesday by signing former Top Esports coach Zhou “Despa1r” Li-Peng.

The move comes ahead of the fifth week of LoL Pro League (LPL) Split 2, expanding the team’s coaching staff to four members.

Welcome new coach, Despa1r! pic.twitter.com/4jOZdLYsvW

— Weibo Gaming TapTap (@WeiboGamingLoL) April 29, 2025

Despa1r will work alongside head coach Jeong “NoFe” No-chul and two assistant coaches, Kim “fly” Sang-cheol and Zhao “Tselin” Ze-Lin.

He is one of the more experienced coaches in the Chinese LoL esports scene, having made his coaching debut in the 2019 season with FunPlus Phoenix.

In his first year as a coach, Despa1r won the LPL 2019 Summer split and led FunPlus Phoenix to the team’s first LoL World Championship triumph.

Despa1r failed to reach the same heights with FPX in 2020, however, nor did he manage to help Oh My God to a single trophy during his two-year stay with the team in 2022-2023.

Despa1r spent last season with Top Esports, guiding the team to silver medals at LPL Spring 2024 and the Esports World Cup, but was cut after a disappointing quarterfinal exit from the 2024 LoL World Championship.

The Chinese coach is only the second new signing for WBG this season, coming two weeks after the promotion of support Shi “Erha” Xu-Ye from the academy team.

Despa1r made his debut in the hot seat on Tuesday as Weibo defeated Bilibili Gaming 2-1, extending their winning streak to two and taking their split record to 5-4.

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