Passion UA have named Justin “FaNg” Coakley as a stand-in for IEM Rio 2026, replacing Senzu due to ESL regional eligibility rules.
FaNg to stand-in for Passion UA at IEM Rio 2026
On Saturday, March 28, Passion UA announced Justin “FaNg” Coakley as a stand-in for Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2026, where the Canadian Counter-Strike 2 player will replace Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold.
Senzu will be unable to in Rio next month due to ESL regulations, forcing Passion UA to field multiple players from North America.
Passion UA qualified for the upcoming event via the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) as of the January 5 update. At the time, they played with Nick “nicx” Lee and Michael “Grim” Wince, thus giving them a NA plurality, earning Passin UA the sole North American VRS invite.
Grim has since left the team to join NRG and make room for Senzu, leaving nicx as the sole NA player on the roster. The change also made Passion UA ineligible for a NA VRS invite.
Rule 2.7.3 Home Country/Region stages:
“For competitions divided into subregions (e.g. North America and South America under the Americas), a roster must have a plurality of players with citizenship from the relevant subregion.”
To fix the issue, Passion UA were forced to add a North American stand-in, and opted for FaNg, who hasn’t found a permanent home since leaving NRG in 2024.
Over the last two years, he has played for BOSS, Party Astronauts, and Getting Info, competing mainly in lesser regional events.
He hasn’t featured in an S-Tier tournament since ESL Pro League Season 19, but has attended various NA qualifiers, including PGL Bucharest: North American Qualifier earlier this month.
By joining Passion UA, the Canadian player will reunite with his former Complexity teammates from 2022-23 in Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen and Johnny “JT” Theodosiou.
FaNg will debut for Passsion UA in just over two weeks. IEM Rio is scheduled to start on April 13, with the group draw yet to be finalized.
The best CS2 bookmakers have yet to open IEM Rio outright markets, which should become available closer to the tournament kick-off.
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