Natus Vincere jungler Enes ‘Rhilech’ Uçan has won the LEC Rookie of the Year award for the 2026 season.
The Turkish League of Legends pro was handed the award ahead of NAVI’s crucial Summer Playoffs series versus GIANTX.
Rhilech led a young NAVI side to the Playoffs in all three LEC 2026 splits, and this Summer had the highest kill participation (76.1%) of all LEC junglers.
SK Gaming ADC Josip ‘Jopa’ Čančar placed second in the votes, while third was Shifters’ Korean toplaner Shin ‘Rooster’ Yun-hwan.
Rhilech: “This is just the tip of the iceberg for me”
There was controversy when NAVI joined the LEC in Summer 2025 and signed Rhilech to a pre-agreement for 2026, leaving Francisco ‘Thayger’ Mazo Sánchez in limbo, knowing he’d be replaced after one split.
Yet, NAVI’s decision has seemingly paid off with Rhilech earning Rookie of the Year and a spot on the 3rd LEC All-Pro team.
Speaking on the LEC broadcast after receiving the award, Rhilech only wanted to look forward:
“It feels amazing… but this is just the tip of the iceberg for me. It’s just the start of many good things, I want to become so much better. I want to get to more Worlds, I want to get more MVPs, achieve more stuff.”
“The year is not going to end today, we’re going to make Worlds,” he added.
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The LEC rookie awards have been won by some pretty spectacular junglers, including Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades Batalla and Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma.
The full list of previous winners is:
- Woolite – Summer 2014
- Huni – Spring 2015
- Niels (Zven) – Summer 2015
- Perkz – Spring 2016
- NighT – Summer 2016
- Xerxe – Spring 2017
- Pridestalker – Summer 2017
- Jiizuke – Spring 2018
- Bwipo – Summer 2018
- Selfmade – Spring 2019
- Inspired – Summer 2019
- Razork – Spring 2020
- Labrov – Summer 2020
- Elyoya – Spring 2021
- Adam – Summer 2021
- Shlatan – Spring 2022
- JeongHoon – Summer 2022
- Yike – 2023
- Jackies – 2024
- Caliste – 2025
Was Rhilech the deserving winner and who is your LEC MVP for this year? Share your opinions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Dardoch is looking for a new team in the LCS after his Dignitas contract expired. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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