Lee "Heart" Gwanhyung announced his retirement from competitive play on Facebook Sunday.

In his statement, Heart mentioned that he had continued to play for a long time despite being referred to as "the Old." During the offseason he said that he had felt committed to playing at least one more year, but things didn't work out and he lost confidence and became discouraged.

Heart also told his fans that even though he is retiring from professional play, he will remain in eSports and has found a coaching position for next year. To conclude, Heart thanked MVP for allowing him to "become special" and Samsung, Vici Gaming, and Unlimited Potential for having signed him in his career.

The retirement statement aligns with Vici Gaming CEO's carefully selected words in his previous statement:

My personal relationship with Heart is very good. Because UP was demoted, but Heart wanted to stay in LPL, Vici Gaming has been looking for a new team for him. I can confirm this year he will go to a very good LPL team.

It's likely that Heart will coach an LPL team next year.

Heart has been playing League of Legends since 2012 as part of RoMg. He took part in one of the most well-known games in League of Legends history with a creative siege composition featuring Caitlyn, Twisted Fate, Blitzcrank, and Smite Heimerdinger. Heart played Olaf.

During his time on Samsung Blue, Heart managed to win a Champions title was known for frequently changing his hair color. Cho "Mata" Sehyeong, who also played support for Samsung, said Heart maintained his level by practicing as much as 40 hours in two days at times.

Heart's last team, Unlimited Potential, qualified for LPL from LSPL as Vici Gaming Potential this summer, but was relegated in a best of five against Team WE. Unable to find a suitable team to return to the stage, Heart retired at age 27.

Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for theScore eSports. You can follow her on Twitter.