in the league. 2009: Celtic Crusaders (later Crusaders Rugby League) – An expansion team only in the sense that they were invited into Super League. The club were established in 2005. After the 2011 season, the club folded due to financial problems; their effective successor club, the North Wales Crusaders, currently compete in League 1, two levels below Super League. Salford City Reds – Also technically not an expansion team; they have existed since 1873 and played in Super League as recently as the 2007 season. 2012: Widnes Vikings – An expansion team only in the sense that they have been invited into the now-franchised Super League. The club have existed since 1875, were founding members of what is now the Rugby Football League in 1895, and participated in Super League as recently as 2005. VTB United League 2010: Espoon Honka; Tsmoki-Minsk (formerly Minsk-2006) 2022: Samara; MBA Moscow Expansion teams in Africa Vodacom Cup 2010: Welwitschias (a developmental side for the Namibia national rugby union team) – This was the second time Namibia participated in the competition; it entered a team from 1999 to 2001. The team withdrew from the competition after the 2011 season due to financial constraints. They remained in the Vodacom Cup until the competition was scrapped after its 2015 season. The team now features in the Vodacom Cup's successor competition, the Rugby Challenge. Pampas XV (a developmental side for the Argentina national rugby union team) – Argentina left the Vodacom Cup after the 2013 season, choosing instead to enter the IRB Pacific Cup from 2014. At that time, it was also expected that Argentina would be added to Super Rugby in the near future, and the country would eventually receive a Super Rugby team beginning in 2016. eSports League of Legends The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) initially fielded teams from eight organizations when they began operations in 2013; both leagues expanded to a total of ten teams in 2015. LCS expansion teams Team Liquid (2015) Winterfox (2015; folded 2016) Gravity Gaming → Echo Fox (2015; folded 2019) Immortals (2016) Phoenix1 (2016; folded 2018) Flyquest (2017) 100 Thieves (2018) Golden Guardians (2018) Evil Geniuses (2020) LEC expansion teams Elements (2015; folded 2016) SK Gaming (2015) Schalke 04 (2016) Splyce → MAD Lions (2016) G2 Esports (2016) Team Vitality (2016) Excel Esports (2019) Rogue (2019) Notes References Sports