Big shock for the Esports world – former Schalke 04 top laner Pavle ‘Yoppa’ Kostić is dead. The Serbian professional player died on Tuesday, November 23 from complications of a Corona infection. He was only 23 years old. Yoppa had been on the LoL scene since 2016, playing for several League of Legends Academy teams, including MAD Lions, Vitality.Bee, Giants Gaming and Team Vitality.
Yoppa paved the way for his fellow Serbian players as he was the very first Serbian player to compete with major international teams. Last year in December, Yoppa joined Schalke 04 Evolution. Last week he officially declared that he was a free agent again and looking for a new home. Shortly after, he passed away. The Esports Balkan League confirmed his death on social media this week.
The world mourns Yoppa’s death
Yoppa was a talented player who was slowly but surely attracting attention. TSM was interested in him and wanted him to join their lineup, but unfortunately the transfer didn’t happen due to visa issues. The news about his sudden and unexpected death has especially shaken the European League of Legends scene a lot.
Today we were informed that our former League of Legends player Yoppa has passed away.
We have wonderful memories of you and our time spent with you in Berlin. You will remain forever engraved in our memories.
Our thoughts are with your family and friends.
Rest in peace, Pavle 💛 pic.twitter.com/8bWCigausa— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) November 24, 2021
His colleagues, friends and acquaintances could not believe that Yoppa passed away so unexpectedly and left numerous messages to commemorate him and express their condolences to his family. Fabien ‘Neo’ Devide from Team Vitality wrote the following message: “My heart is broken. My deepest condolences to his loved ones at this painful time. We will miss you.”
And the team added: “We have wonderful memories of you and the time we spent with you in Berlin. You will be forever remembered by us. Our thoughts are with your family and friends. Rest in peace, Pavle.”Among the many messages from players who knew Yoppa are tweets from Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik, James “Mac” MacCormack and Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek, who played with Yoppa for a long time.
I honestly dont know what to say. We spent so much time having fun together back in the LVP days i wish i could go back in time.
Rest in peace Pavle. https://t.co/nRjAn8Pz53
— selfmade (@selfmade_LoL) November 24, 2021
Corona is the cause of death
At the moment there are no further details about his death, except that he contracted the coronavirus and died from the complications that followed. What exactly went wrong with his treatment and why he died so suddenly is still unclear. At the moment there will be no further explanation about the circumstances of his death, because Yoppa’s family and friends are in mourning and apparently don’t want to make a statement for the time being.