The Times of London named League of Legends (LoL) player Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as Faker, as one of the world's top 10 influential sports figures.

Faker won the World Championship in 2023 as part of Korea's T1 team.

The Times called Faker the "Unkillable Demon King" as it introduced T1's victory in the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.

The paper explained that while it doesn't usually cover esports in its sports pages, the day when Faker becomes a mainstream Olympic star like Usain Bolt was not long off.

Faker was joined on the list by Saudi sovereign wealth fund governor Yasir bin Al-Rumayyan, football star Lionel Messi, Major League Baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani, Australian footballer Sam Kerr along with YouTube influencer and boxer KSI.