Kang “solo” Keun-chul has stepped down from his role as Dplus KIA head coach, the Korean organization announced today.
SOUTH KOREA – Dplus KIA have announced that Kang “solo” Keun-chul will no longer be the team’s head coach following the end of his contract. His departure brings an end to a two-year tenure with the Korean side with whom solo began his coaching career in December 2021.
Coach Jung “peri” Beom-gi, who is also a former longtime teammate of solo, will step into the head coaching role at Dplus KIA, having previously been spotted behind the coaching desk during the team’s VCT Ascension Pacific campaign. Yoon “frizz” Ki-sik has also been registered as the team’s new coach and will work in tandem with peri.
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Having established a championship résumé with teams such as WeMade FOX (CS 1.6), MVP.PK (CS:GO), and NUTURN Gaming (VALORANT), solo chose to retire from competitive play and shift to a coaching role. His coaching helped cement Dplus KIA (formerly known as DWG KIA) as one of the better teams in the tier-two circuit, particularly in the 2023 season when the team won both WCG VCL Korea Split 1 and 2, which subsequently qualified them for VCT Ascension Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.
However, Dplus KIA faced challenges in competitions against a higher caliber of opposition, failing to progress beyond the group stages in Ascension, culminating in a 7th-8th place finish. The team also found themselves in the middle of a Korean shuffle after the aforementioned event, with four of their players departing to join four different teams, including two that were part of the VCT Pacific League.
The organization thanked solo for his contributions to the team, going on to say “We’ll forever treasure all the laughter, tears, and memories we made during his time with us, and we wish him happiness and success in the future.” It remains unknown where solo will continue his career as of the time of this publication.
Dplus KIA are now:
- 🇰🇷 Park “exy” Geun-cheol
- 🇰🇷 Um “SeliG” Hyun-sung
- 🇰🇷 No “Freeing” Ha-jun
- 🇰🇷 Lee “NGen” Jae-hong
- 🇰🇷 Ahn “Hermes” Byeong-wook
- 🇰🇷 Jung “peri” Beom-gi (Head coach)
- 🇰🇷 Yoon “frizz” Ki-sik (Coach)
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Cover photo courtesy of Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
