Sprout signs AZR as IGL

Movements continue at the top of the CS:GO competitive level. This time, Australian IGL Aaron “AZR” Ward is returning to the competitive scene after several months of absence with the European organization Sprout.

The 30-year-old veteran comes to the Sprout lineup to replace Ismail “refrezh” Ali after the Dane decided to step away from the pro scene for a while.

AZR is the new IGL of Sprout

The European organization, Sprout, has announced via a statement on Twitter that, after much deliberation and testing conducted with different players, they have decided to sign the experienced Australian IGL, AZR.

“After much deliberation and testing, we’re proud to announce that @Azr will be our new @CSGO IGL! It was a tough decision, but with his proven leadership abilities, we are confident that AZR will be a valuable asset to our team. Thanks for the patience, and as always, #GrowSprout🌱”

There is no doubt that this move can give some stability to this team that has had different problems finding a positive balance in their last tournaments.

AZR said on their Twitter:

“Excited to be back in action with the Sprout boys. I have a lot to prove and a lot of hard work ahead of me after being out of competition for a while, but I’m looking forward to it.”

About AZR

Undoubtedly, AZR is one of the most recognized names in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene on the Oceanic continent. But, currently, we can’t say that any player comes close to AZR’s experience in Australia.

The 30-year-old player is well known for his extraordinary passage by Renegades, a team he belonged to between 2015 and 2019. In 2018, AZR assumed the role of team captain after Noah “Nifty” Francis left the lineup. As a result, the Australian had to lead this roster in the IEM Katowice and StarLadder Berlin Major playoffs.

After that, TSM acquired the full Renegades lineup, and AZR led the team to the finals of IEM Beijing 2019, where they fell to that Astralis lineup that won it all with a 0-3 score.

Along comes the era of the Covid-19 pandemic, where all tournaments moved to online mode, and the 100T lineup was signed by EXTREMUM. However, the lineup was not successful at all. EXTREMUM had a lot of trouble achieving success in the tournaments they played. After failing to qualify for the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, the Russian organization decided to bench and transfer the entire lineup.

The last time AZR played an official match was in the IEM Rio RMR closed qualifier with Encore. Although the team finished in second place in this qualifier, they did not get the ticket to the event, as only one spot was at stake in these closed qualifiers.

Now, the 30-year-old Australian veteran will have his golden opportunity to prove that he still has work to do with Sprout. The team is playing in the ESL Challenger League S44 Europe. In addition, he will have to hold his team’s hand in the upcoming European RMR A for the Blast.tv Paris Major, which starts in just over a month.

Sprout’s lineup is as follows

• Aaron “⁠AZR⁠” Ward
• Laurențiu “⁠lauNX⁠” Țârlea
• Adrian “⁠XELLOW⁠” Guță
• Rasmus “⁠Zyphon⁠” Nordfoss
• Victor “⁠Staehr⁠” Staehr
• Danny “⁠BERRY⁠” Krüger (Head Coach)
• Ismail “⁠refrezh⁠” Ali (benched)

Header: ESL