The League of Legends Pro League (LPL), China’s top-tier league, has issued a lifetime ban to jungler Yang “Naiyou” Zijian following an investigation into multiple breaches of competitive integrity, the league announced on March 27.
According to an official statement posted on Weibo, the LPL launched an investigation after receiving a report from Top Esports on March 5, 2026. In the report, Naiyou was suspected of violating regulations, and an immediate special team was set up to launch an in-depth investigation after he received a temporary suspension.
The investigation found that Naiyou committed “several serious violations during the tournament that directly and/or indirectly affected the fairness of the competition,” breaching multiple rules under the LPL’s competitive framework.
As a result, the league issued its strongest possible punishment. Naiyou has been handed a lifetime ban effective immediately, stripped of eligibility for any official honors, and barred from participating in professional and semi-professional competitions organized by Tencent and Riot Games in any region around the world in any capacity.
The decision effectively ends his professional career across all major Riot Games-sanctioned ecosystems. The jungler has been replaced by Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang, who won Worlds 2019 with FunPlus Phoenix. While the LPL commended TES for reporting the issue and cooperating with the investigation, it also criticized the organization’s internal oversight.
“In this incident, it should be affirmed that Top Esports Club took the initiative to report to the league in a timely manner and actively cooperated with the investigation and provided strong evidence. However, it has made serious omissions in its daily player management and failed to detect and stop players’ violations,” the Chinese league stated, urging all teams to strengthen education and supervision systems.
The LPL emphasized that this case should serve as a warning across the league, calling on organizations to “build a strong defense line” against any activity that compromises competitive integrity. The league made it clear that the punishment is not the end of the matter. It confirmed that further action could follow as it continues to pursue leads uncovered during the probe.
“This penalty is not the end point… the league’s discipline management team will continue to track down… suspicious external personnel,” the statement read, adding that those who “erode the league’s ecology will have no place to stand.”
According to stats site Oracle’s Elixir, Naiyou had the highest kills among junglers in the LPL 2026 Split 1 Playoffs for Top Esports. He started his professional career with Top Esports’ academy roster in 2020, later earning LDL 2025 Split 1 Regular Season MVP, and went on to represent several Chinese teams, including LGD Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Rare Atom across his career.
Following the ruling, Top Esports announced the immediate termination of Naiyou’s contract and imposed additional penalties.
“Effective immediately, the service agreement… is terminated, all cooperative relationships are ended, and he will never be rehired,” TES said in a statement on Weibo. The organization also confirmed it would deduct “all outstanding salary, tournament prize money, and team benefits,” while reserving the right to pursue further legal action.
TES reiterated its own zero-tolerance stance, stating that “fair play is the lifeblood of any competition” and promising to strengthen internal systems, including player education, match monitoring, and risk assessment, to prevent similar incidents in the future.
