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BetBoom Team will miss IEM Cologne 2024 due to visa issues, ESL has announced.
Filling in for the Russian Counter-Strike 2 team will be 3DMAX, as per the ESL Pro Tour’s Team Replacement Rules.
Unfortunately, @BetBoomTeam have been unable to obtain visas to travel to #IEM Cologne and have been replaced by @3DMAXGaming as the next eligible team based on our Team Replacement Rules. pic.twitter.com/25kb62Tq02
— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) August 5, 2024
BetBoom had earned a spot in the play-in stage of IEM Cologne via the ESL World Ranking.
The tournament would have been their first of the season, following their last official match in June at YaLLa Compass.
BetBoom had also planned to attend the Skyesports Championship but withdrew, citing unmet conditions and fairness concerns with the Indian tournament organiser.
3DMAX, who recently won the Skyesports Championship and achieved their peak world rank of 18, will take BetBoom’s spot in the play-in bracket, facing 9z in the first round of the double-elimination stage.
Additionally, Herioc announced that Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk will replace Abdul “degster” Gasanov, who also faces visa issues.
Woro2k, known for his time on Monte and their underdog run to the BLAST.tv Paris Major quarter-finals, will join Heroic in their play-in stage match against MIBR.
winning Cologne with the stand-in buff 🫡 pic.twitter.com/u1n23twFa1
— HEROIC (@heroicgg) August 5, 2024
It’s unclear if degster will miss the entire event as Heroic awaits visa approval, ready to fly him in if circumstances change.
Visa issues have increasingly impacted Russian players in the CS2 scene.
Earlier this year, Team Spirit’s Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and Boris “magixx” Vorobyev missed the BLAST Spring Groups 2024 due to similar problems.
These visa challenges continue to hinder one of the most talented regions in the scene, preventing players from participating in major tournaments.
Heroic’s IEM Cologne 2024 line-up
- René “TeSeS” Madsen
- Rasmus “sjuush” Beck
- Guy “NertZ” Iluz
- Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski
- Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk
- Coach: Eetu “sAw” Saha
