Hans Sama is reportedly being sued by a French agency for the alleged breach of contract from his Rogue to Team Liquid deal.
According to a report from esports journalist Jacob Wolf, Athletes Representation & Consulting (ARC) is reportedly suing Steven "Hans Sama" Liv for alleged breach of contract. The French superstar AD carry played for Team Liquid in the 2022 season after leaving the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC).
ARC claims on Hans Sama's alleged breach of contract
The French agency, ARC, alleged that Hans Sama breached his contract by signing with a competing agency and did not pay commissions for the period they represented him. The claim revolves around the end of 2021 when ARC met with Rogue to discuss Hans Sama's sale from the team to an League Championship Series (LCS) organization for the 2022 season. Both Rogue and ARC met with Cloud9 and Team Liquid, the two teams interested in the player.
Although ARC began discussions for Hans Sama's possible sale to Team Liquid, another agency called Proxy eventually negotiated the player's new deal with Team Liquid, according to the report. During these negotiations, Hans Sama was alleged to still be under contract with ARC for exclusive representation. Rogue also agreed to a lower buyout amount from Team Liquid despite Cloud9's higher offer because the player preferred to go to Team Liquid.
We deeply regret this situation, which is unprecedented in the life of our agency, but we must confirm that we have a dispute with Steven about the conditions under which our collaboration ceased. As we were unable to reach an amicable agreement with Steven, we were forced to bring the matter before a civil court for an independent third party to assess the situation. It is nothing personal, and we trust Steven feels the same way. As the case is ongoing, we do not intend to communicate further to preserve Steven's or ARC's image.
Hans Sama spent the 2022 season with Team Liquid and their super team roster. They were unable to meet expectations and failed to qualify for Worlds. While the matter begins in court, Hans Sama has not officially joined a team for next year even though he is likely to return to Europe.