Spirit, 9Z see coaches banned from PGL Antwerp

A day after ESIC announced that they had banned three coaches set to participate in the PGL Antwerp Major, both Spirit and 9Z announced that their coaches would be banned from the Major.

In a statement, Spirit revealed that their coach Sergey “hally” Shavaev has been banned by ESIC from the Major. According to Spirit, his instance of the coaching bug dates from 2019, when he was coaching Espada.

In its announcement, Spirit criticizes ESIC for the timing of the decision to ban their coach, claiming that ESIC’s focus on the bug is “their only way to stay relevant.”

The other coach confirmed as one of the three banned by ESIC is Brazilian Rafael “zakk” Fernandes. He led 9Z to their first-ever Major.

Like Spirit, zakk criticized ESIC for the announcement’s timing, saying that the evidence had been available for 14 months.

The third coach is believed to be Imperial’s Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet.