London-headquartered esports organisation Fnatic have temporarily scrapped their CSGO academy project, Fnatic Rising.
While all the academy players have now become free agents and have been allowed to explore new opportunities, Fnatic have extended a couple of contracts for their CSGO first team.
UK coach Jamie ‘Keita’ Hall and Swedish team director Andreas ‘Samme’ Samuelsson have had their contracts extended for one year, to the end of 2023.
Fnatic’s academy team, Fnatic Rising, won the WePlay Academy League Season 5 last year, beating Spirit Academy 2-0 in the grand final.
The Fnatic Rising roster consisted of WolfY (Sweden), Maze (Denmark), Volt (UK), Banjo (Finland) and Peppzor (Sweden).
UK player Volt thanked his former teammates and staff, and said he’s looking to progress even further in 2023 with a new team.
Fnatic’s CSGO first team currently consists of KRIMZ (Sweden), mezii (UK), nicoodoz (Denmark), roeJ (Denmark) and FASHR (Netherlands).
Fnatic on pausing the Fnatic Rising CSGO team and extending contracts with Keita and Samme
On closing Fnatic Rising CSGO for now, Fnatic said in this 2023 CSGO update post on their website: “We’ll be putting a pause on the Fnatic Rising squad as these players graduate and other contracts expire. 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 leagues 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 it’s success time and time again, and will provide new updates when we have them.”
Fnatic also thanked the players and wished them well in the future.
Fnatic CSGO team director Andreas ‘Samme’ Samuelsson added: “You were one of the best academy teams qualifying for ESEA Challenger and winning WePlay S5. All amazing players with bright futures. Teams, don’t hesitate to reach out to me for more info. Good luck moving forward boys.”
“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 leagues to best benefit both the players who enter the programme and also Fnatic’s overarching strategy.”
Fnatic
On extending contracts with Keita and Samme, Fnatic added: “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 together, and proud to field a highly competitive CS roster once more.
“As a result, we’re excited to announce the extension of contracts in the team management, with both Andreas ‘Samme’ Samuelsson and coach Jamie ‘Keita’ Hall receiving extensions to the end of 2023, providing a solid foundation for the year ahead.
“We’re extremely excited for the direction this roster is headed in, with solid performances across these last months and a better focus on content established for the team, with more access and eyes on the team than ever.”
Related article: Rekkles returns to Fnatic in 2023 LEC roster video
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
