Fnatic to replace Virtus.pro at IEM Dallas

While it is true that all eyes are on the BLAST.tv Paris Major, in the last few hours, it has been announced that Fnatic will replace Virtus.pro (VP) at Intel Extreme Dallas 2023.

This decision comes because, as we know, VP is a Russian organization, and several of their players have been denied entry to the United States. It is no secret to anyone that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is getting worse by the day, and the constant shelling of Ukrainian cities continues to leave many innocent victims. As a result, the United States has increased restrictions on Russian citizens entering the country.

Virtus.pro announces withdrawal from IEM Dallas 2023

Through a statement on their Twitter account, the Russian organization, Virtus.pro, announced that they are withdrawing from IEM Dallas 2023 due to the United States denying visas to some of their players.

As we note, the organization refers to the fact that the United States denied visas to some players despite having unconditional support and assistance from the ESL. In addition, they point out that they consider it “inappropriate” to participate in top-level tournaments with substitute players, so they decided to withdraw from the tournament.

After VP withdrew, the tournament organizers, ESL, announced that Fnatic was the team that would replace them after finishing in fourth place in the closed qualifiers.

As stated in the official ESL rules, when a team withdraws from the tournament after the qualifiers are played, the next team on the leaderboard (Fnatic, in this case) will take their place. However, Black&Orange managed to receive the invitation to the tournament after finishing in fourth place in the closed qualifiers behind teams like Cloud9, OG, and Astralis.

Other team changes

In addition to the Fnatic invite, the ESL announced that OG had confirmed their invite to IEM Dallas 2023. Still, they will do so with the arrival of Iulian “regali” Harjău, which replaces the Russian AWPer, Abdul “degster” Gasanov. This change is due to the fact that the Russian claimed that he wanted to take a break after the team participated in the Paris Major.

Recall that IEM Dallas 2023 is played from May 29 to June 4 in the United States, where the 16 CS:GO teams will fight for the lion’s share of the $250,000 prize pool. In addition, the team that manages to lift the champions trophy will directly qualify for the upcoming IEM Cologne 2023. Lastly, the team that finishes in the first place will score a star in their race for the Intel Grand Sland S5.

Header: ESL