CFO Chawy: “CFO 2025 is one of the best teams we’ve had in years”

The 2025 League of Legends World Championship has brought together the best teams from across the globe, and among them stands CTBC Flying Oyster. The only team to qualify for all three international tournaments of the LoL Esports ecosystem. CFO has quickly become one of the most beloved teams across all regions, and the LCP champions are not done yet.

In their debut match at Worlds 2025, CFO defeated Fnatic with a dominant performance and now stand to face reigning World Champions T1 — but they like those odds. During the last MSI, CFO brought T1 to the fifth game in a series that, on paper, many would have written off as a dominant win for T1.

“I feel like the biggest difference for the first stage is that the first two games, at least, are best of one — and that hasn’t been our strong point,” CFO coach, Wong “Chawy” Xing Lei, said. “It’s something that we’re struggling with and we’re trying to work around. But let’s see what we can do with it.”

In an interview with Jaxon.GG, Chawy looked back on his long career and the challenges of leading CFO through another international run. The veteran coach shared his thoughts on preparation, “Sacrifice,” and what it means to finally see his hard work come full circle.

The Long Road from Player to Coach

Chawy’s esports journey began long before most of his current players entered the scene. Having been active since 2010, he has witnessed the rise and transformation of League of Legends from when he was a player to now, as a coach. And much like LoL Esports, Chawy also celebrates the 15th anniversary of his career, and his too is a milestone built on sacrifices.

“I sacrificed a lot of time with my family, my loved ones. And also I sacrificed a lot of sleep because back then during Season Zero to Season Three, I was in the army,” Chawy recalled. “I had very little time to practice, but I chose to sacrifice my sleep and had about two to three hours of sleep every day just to get more practice on League of Legends.”

But now, after 15 years, Chawy finally feels that this year has paid off all of his sacrifices.

Chawy at the 2017 World Championship in Wuhan, Hubei, China on Oct. 7 2017. (Photo: Riot Games)

Chawy’s long career has made him a witness to how much the scene has evolved. The challenges of early esports—lack of structure, guidance, and recognition—have transformed into a more professional ecosystem.

Chawy pointed out that the landscape for modern players is very different. In the past, many coaches did not come from professional League backgrounds, so they lacked firsthand experience. Today, however, most teams have coaches who were successful pro players themselves. This experience allows them to understand the game deeply and communicate with players far more effectively.

He added that new generations of players benefit from this evolution. “I feel like right now all the younger players, all the newer players have it much easier. They have people to guide them on how to play better in game and also how to manage the stage nerves and stuff. So I feel like right now LoL Esports is really evolving and it’s going in a good way.”

• Read also: “There’s no way around it,” Gen.G Canyon on the sacrifices made

CFO’s Approach to Worlds 2025

CFO entered Worlds 2025 after an impressive showing at MSI, where they surprised fans with their creativity and confidence. Now expectations are high, and Chawy knows the start of the tournament will be tough.

“We are trying to maybe go past the first two best of one games first and get to our comfort stage, which is the best of three and best of five, where we understand the Fearless Draft a lot better,” CFO coach said. “If we win one or two games from the best of one, I’m pretty hopeful for the tournament.”

The introduction of Fearless Draft has brought a new challenge to Worlds 2025, but Chawy feels all teams are well-prepared. As the teams competing are among the best in the world and have already competed in regional Splits with Fearless Draft, Chawy believes no team will struggle with the format.

However, he acknowledged that riskier champion choices may not always fit the current state of the game. “During the Swiss Stage, if you have to play a weird champion, you need to have some skill gap. It’s not going to be easy because right now the game is pretty standard with the macros, how you play around the objective. But I think there are a lot of teamfights going on. So if you pick an assassin going into teamfights, it’s not going to be easy. If any team picks an assassin, I’ll respect them.”

Talent, Pressure, and the Rise of Rookie Stars

CFO’s performances this season have elevated both the team and its young players into the global spotlight, but with that recognition comes the pressure.

“I feel [our good performances] definitely add some pressure for us, especially from our region because it’s been 10 years since we have managed to go into the quarter finals. So we’re really trying our best to make it happen again,” said CFO’s coach.

But fans worry that this might be the last chance for this CFO roster to reach a goal that the LCP region has been chasing for years. Most of the team members’ contracts will expire this November, leaving many questioning whether the roster will stay together or some of the most promising members will chase their dreams someplace else — and Chawy knows that’s a possibility.

“The team that we have right now, the CFO 2025 roster, is one of the best teams that we have had in years. Not talking about the results, but the atmosphere of the team, how the team hangs out together, how the team connects with each other. I think that’s something that is very, very rare and definitely CFO will try to maintain the same roster but we’ll see how it goes.”

Coach Chawy interviewed at Worlds 2025 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Among the players, mid laner Tsai “HongQ” Ming-Hong has drawn particular attention for his skill and rapid development for his accomplishments in his first year in a Tier 1 league, his second as a pro player.

And Chawy believes his rookie could become one of the best. “In his first year he managed to enter three, four international tournaments, which is very huge for rookie players because they need the experience before they can get there. And in these internationals he actually performed pretty well too. So I think that’s something that’s very rare.”

Legacy and the Meaning of Never Giving Up

‘Earn your Legacy’ might be a dream for the future for many players at Worlds, but there are some names in the competition that can already claim to have left a historic legacy behind them. Chawy is among them.

He believes the concept of never giving up can be part of his legacy. “My results were all ‘almost,’ it was always ‘almost, almost, I’m almost there, almost there’… but I was never there,” Chawy said. “I feel like this year I made it, the whole team made it. So the thought of ‘we are not there’ is just ‘never give up,’ do what you love and go on, hang on — one day you’ll make it.”

Yet even now, Chawy’s focus is not on celebrating past achievements but on continuing to build something lasting for CFO and the LCP region.

Featured image: CTBC Flying Oyster coach Chawy onstage during MSI 2025 in Vancouver, Canada on Jul. 05, 2025. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)