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ESL has imposed sanctions on teams based in Russia

ESL has imposed sanctions on teams based in Russia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes Gambit and... | 5. March 2022

ESL has imposed sanctions on teams based in Russia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes Gambit and Virtus Pro. These organizations have “obvious ties” to the Russian government and are therefore no longer allowed to compete in the tournament.

Virtus.pro and Gambit to present themselves as “neutral”

The Russia-Ukraine war has its consequences, even in Esports. Russian athletes around the world are banned from events to put pressure on the Russian government. In CS:GO, both Gambit and Virtus.pro are affected, as ESL has imposed sanctions on teams with contacts in Russia.

Neither of these organizations are partners of ESL and have qualified for competition through ESL’s world rankings. ESL has apologized to the players for the sanctions, but hopes for their understanding due to the political situation:

“We are aware that the players are not complicit in this situation, and we do not believe that it is in the spirit of Esports to impose sanctions on individual players. Virtus.pro and Gambit players are therefore welcome to compete under a neutral name without representing their country, organization or team sponsors on their clothing or otherwise.”

So far, neither Gambit nor Virtus.pro have commented on the ESL sanctions and it is unclear if they can or even want to comply with these demands. How exactly such a neutral representation should look then is also questionable. The two teams made it to the IEM Katowice playoffs last weekend and are two serious contenders for the ESL Pro League Season 15 title.

Virtus.pro caught in the crossfire

This is not the first time that Virtus.pro’s participation in an event has been affected by the Russian war. On Tuesday, the organization claimed that it was threatened to be disqualified from the ongoing GAMERS GALAXY Dota 2 tournament in Dubai for not siding with Ukraine in public – because Virtus.pro’s organization told players not to.

Other CS:GO tournament organizers have also taken steps to exclude Russian teams. BLAST has also banned organizations from Russia from participating in events for the foreseeable future, and Elisa Esports recently did the same.

To support the people of Ukraine, ESL continues to pay affected employees. Employees who want to volunteer for humanitarian aid will also be given paid time off. ESL has also paused all scheduled competitions in the CIS region. They will likely be made up at a later date.