Former League of Legends god Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao, or Uzi has been nominated as a potential cultural ambassador for the Yiling District, in the Hubei Province of China. Uzi is one of China’s most famous players and spent the vast majority of his top level career on Chinese team Royal Never Give Up.

Uzi, who returned to pro play this season after a long absence due to health issues, played just nine games with his new team, Bilibili Gaming, before getting back to a break. 

A good year for Chinese esports

While League of Legends is a massive industry in China, this year is a particularly good one for gamers and esports stars, with the Hangzhou Asian Games making esports the official event of the competition. Chinese sources claim the popularity of League has surpassed even that of the FIFA World Cup, no doubt aided by Chinese teams enjoying success at recent world championships, winning three of the last four.

The Weibo post discussing the possibility of Uzi taking up this new role pointed to other districts that had enjoyed economic growth since adopting similar schemes, and the former League legend has certainly got some time on his hands at present. Uzi is still only 25 years of age and has been considered one of the best bot-laners in the world for most of his career, having joined the pro scene at 16.

Life is tough in a sport where you are considered old at 25, but it seems as though Uzi can still rely on his popularity and public goodwill in the short term, which is great for a player that sacrificed their health to be a star in League of Legends. With any luck he can overcome his health issues and return to pro play in the near future, with the former RNG star not short of ways to fill his time, also being owner of his own esports org.