Fnatic puts the Academy program on pause

According to an official announcement, one of the world’s longest-running and most popular esports organizations, Fnatic, has decided to pause its academy program for the 2023 season.

This means that players from the academy, Fnatic Rising, will now move into unrestricted free agency so they can negotiate with any team.

Fnatic Rising disappears, and players are free agents

Following the organization’s announcement, the Fnatic Rising academy team will no longer be part of the competitive CS:GO scene. This means that Sebastian “volt” Malos, Mikkel “Maze” Sparvath, Matias “Banjo” Kivistö, and Adam “WolfY” Andersson are now unrestricted free agents and can explore their options for the 2023 season.

About Fnatic Rising

The Fnatic academy project was created in 2021 under the name Fnatic Rising. This was a product of the organization’s three-year break in competitions in lower categories.

Thanks to this project, different talents had the opportunity to compete in six editions of the WePlay Academy League, considered the highest competitive level of the academy teams. In addition, they managed to become champions in the fifth season.

Through Fnatic Rising passed, young players who have shown outstanding skills, such as Banjo, Peppe “Peppzor” Borak, and Iulian “regali” Harjău and, thanks to this, had different opportunities in the primary team during 2022.

There is no doubt that regali has been the best talent to come out of Fnatic Rising, as he proved himself at every opportunity he got and signed with Copenhagen Flames in August 2022, where he continues to show a spectacular level.

In its official statement about Fnatic Rising, the organization said:

“We’ll be putting a pause on the Fnatic Rising squad as these players graduate and other contracts expire. The entirety of the team will be becoming free agents allowed to explore new opportunities, and we wish them all of the best heading forward into the next steps of their career, as well as thanking them for their time in the Black and Orange. Putting the roster on pause may come as a surprise, but we want to take the time to best strategise about our place in the CSGO Academy league’s to best benefit both the players who enter the programme and also Fnatic’s overarching strategy. We are immensely proud of this programme, and have proven its success time and time again, and will provide new updates when we have them.”

Other important announcements

While the organization announced that Fnatic Rising is on hiatus, and all four players are in free agency. They also announced the renewal of the contracts of Andreas Samuelsson, Team Manager, and Jamie “keita” Hall, the Head Coach, until the end of 2023.

Finally, the organization shows pride in the results obtained by the main lineup in 2022.

“We’re delighted with the main squad’s progress in the last year, with qualification and a strong finish at Rio, a trophy lift in Espoo, and our eyes set on Katowice later this month. We are already extremely impressed with the team’s chemistry and teamwork and proud to field a highly competitive CS roster again.”

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