ESL bans orgs with ties to Russian government from upcoming season

ESL has announced that organizations with “apparent ties” to the Russian government will not be able to participate in the forthcoming season of the ESL Pro League, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The biggest Esports tournament organizer ESL Gaming and the ESL Pro League’s partnered teams have reached an agreement that organizations “with evident ties to the Russian government” will be barred from participation in the forthcoming 15th season, which will begin on March 9 and end on April 10.

Gambit and Virtus.pro, both of whom were scheduled to compete in ESL Pro League 15, have been recognized as two Russian-based groups with Kremlin links by the event organizer.

MTS, Russia’s largest telecommunications firm, owns Gambit, and its major stakeholder, the AFK Sistema PAO conglomerate, is led by Vladimir Yevtushenkov whose name emerged on the ‘Putin list’ in 2018, as one of 210 politicians and oligarchs linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Virtus.pro, is owned by ESforce Holding, which was acquired by Mail.Ru Group Limited, now known as VK, in 2018. Since December 2021, state-run insurance Sogaz has held a majority share in VK, which is listed on the European Union’s February 28 sanctions list imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

We recognize that players are not complicit with this situation, and we do not think it is in the spirit of esports to impose sanctions on individual players. The Virtus.pro and Gambit players are therefore welcome to compete under a neutral name, without representing their country, organization or their teams’ sponsors on their clothing or otherwise.

ESL

*ESL has also stated, players from both teams will be permitted to compete in the event as long as they compete under a neutral tag and do not identify their nation, organization, or sponsors.

ESL made the announcement after BLAST, which stated on March 1 that Russian-based teams will be banned indefinitely. Click here for read ESL’s full statement on Ukraine.