Dplus KIA Win 2026 EWC League of Legends Title Amid Org Sale and Unpaid Player Salaries

Dplus KIA swept Karmine Corp 3-0 in Paris to win the Esports World Cup 2026 League of Legends championship, taking a $600,000 first prize and 1,000 Club Championship points. It is the organisation’s first international title since 2020, and it was won by a roster whose players were owed a month’s salary while the club they play for is being sold.

𝑬𝑾𝑪 𝟐𝟔 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺🏆

EWC 2026 League of Legends 왕좌의 주인공.
첫 EWC 진출에 이어 Dplus Kia가 또 하나의 별을 만들어 내었습니다.

어려운 환경에서 한마음 한뜻으로 우승을 이루어낸 선수단에 많은 축하 부탁드리며, 다가오는 LCK에서도 좋은 모습 보여드리겠습니다.

Making… pic.twitter.com/iDuC9ZHWs1

— Dplus Kia (@DplusKia) July 19, 2026

The gap between what happened on stage and what is happening off it is the story here.

A Sweep Nobody Predicted

Dplus KIA arrived as outsiders after a low finish in the LCK regular season, and then dismantled the bracket. They took down MSI finalists Bilibili Gaming and LCK powerhouse Gen.G before meeting Karmine Corp in the grand final on home soil for the French side, where the series never became competitive. The first game was wrapped up in 31 minutes with Dplus suffocating Karmine Corp almost throughout, and the second went much the same way, ending on a dominant 18-8 scoreline. Most Polymarket users had the odds firmly against them going into the final.

For the organisation it is a genuine revival. This is its first international title since 2020 and its first under the Dplus KIA branding, arriving after a spell that included missing Worlds last year for the first time in the club’s history. Mid laner ShowMaker drew comparisons to his Worlds 2020-winning form, when he stood among the best in the world in his position, and the run has been read as the spirit of DAMWON Gaming returning to a team that had struggled to assert itself even regionally.

Karmine Corp leave with something too. The French org redeemed an abysmal showing at the Mid-Season Invitational 2026 in Daejeon and convincingly outperformed European rivals G2 Esports on the way to the final, and returns home to open the LEC Summer Split in Paris with a case for being in the conversation as Europe’s strongest team.

Read More: Dplus KIA Confirms LCK Salary Delays and Org Sale as Buyer Search Widens

The Salaries Behind the Trophy

While the team was competing in Paris, South Korean journalist Yong Woo “kenzi” Kim of Daily e-Sports reported that all players across the organisation were owed one month’s salary. Industry sources cited in that report said the organisation had fallen two months behind before one month’s pay was recently settled, and the shortfall affects every title Dplus KIA competes in, including League of Legends, VALORANT, PUBG Mobile, EA Sports FC and Rainbow Six Siege. The club’s total payroll is estimated at around 3 billion won, just over $2 million.

The cause given is the sale itself. “The sale of the team has been delayed,” a Dplus representative said, “which disrupted our financial plans,” adding that players had already been informed and that the organisation was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Because the transaction is what was funding the runway, a delay in closing it translates directly into missed payroll, which is how a club can be simultaneously winning an international trophy and failing to pay the people winning it.

The organisation subsequently confirmed the sale publicly. “In order to ensure the continued growth of the organization and its players, as well as a sustainable future, we have made the business decision that welcoming a new owner is the best course of action,” it said. “The sale process of the organization is currently underway.” The financial difficulties have reportedly been known or at least hinted at for several years, and were worsened recently by the departure of several internal staff members.

None of it showed on the Rift. The roster never let the uncertainty affect its performance, producing one of the organisation’s most memorable runs in years, and now returns to a club still looking for a buyer with a first international trophy in six years to its name.