LoL Pro League champion. League of Legends world champion. Umi's husband. Kim "Doinb" Tae-sang can now add LPL resident to his growing list of titles he has memetically posted throughout the year on Weibo and Twitter.
Today, the FunPlus Phoenix mid laner, who is from South Korea, became the first-ever foreign player to qualify for residency in the LPL. The team also announced on Weibo that Doinb will remain with FunPlus Phoenix for the 2020 season. China's professional league has the strictest standards of any League of Legends region regarding residency as a foreign player.
To qualify as a non-Chinese LPL resident, the player must stay in China for four years (48 months over the past 72 months). Any days outside the country do not count toward the four-year total. This means that a South Korean player who is trying to qualify for LPL residency cannot visit their family in South Korea without losing those days toward their qualification. All players who came to the LPL after Aug. 1, 2016, will need a Chinese green card.
Doinb came to China in 2015 as a member of Qiao Gu, a team in China's LoL Secondary Pro League. The team was promoted after its first year in the LPL. Since that time, Doinb has played for Newbee Young, JD Gaming, Rogue Warriors and current world champions FunPlus Phoenix.
"Before I came to China I was really worried about the food and the housing because I used to live at home. I used to eat whenever I wanted to and stream whenever I wanted to, but when I saw what it was going to be like in China I was like, 'Yeah, this is going to suit me very well,'" Doinb said at worlds.
Doinb added that rather than visiting his family in South Korea, they instead visited him through the years in China. He was also able to see them in South Korea at this year's Rift Rivals LCK-LPL-LMS-VCS tournament, which was held in Jangchung Arena in Seoul.