League of Legends: Evil Geniuses sign AnDa to Academy Roster due to Visa Issues
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author David Hollingsworth
Evil Geniuses announce Andy “AnDa” Hoang will join the team’s Academy side after Dutch player Kadircan “Kadir” Mumcuoğlu was rejected a P1 Sports Visa.
AnDa joins the side after spending the past two years with 100 Thieves. Playing as part of their main roster before moving down to Academy in 2019. 100 Thieves parted ways with AnDa in late 2019. He was originally unable to find a spot in the LCS for 2020.
However, while the news is great for AnDa it comes at the expense of Kadir. The Dutch jungler has spent the last few years kicking around the European regional scene. Although he did spend part of 2018 with OpTiC Gaming Academy where he shared the role with Akaadian.
Speaking of his frustration on Twitter, Kadir had this to say; “I have some news about my situation, My visa got denied because the US govt doesn't think academy players are eligible for P1 visas. This got me shocked as I never thought this could deny me my future. Now I am a free agent open for opportunities as Jungle“
While the US P1 Visa is a great example of esports gaining a larger acceptance globally, a number of recent Visa issues with European players going to the US (such as Broxah) have shown that the P1 Visa is more elusive than ever.
Ultimately, while it’s bad when it happens to any professional player, to happen to an Academy prospect always stings more. Especially with the season already underway, making options limited.
David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist.
David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.