Richard Lewis on VP’s Roster Ban from Competing under Club Tag

British esports journalist Richard Lewis comments on the prohibition imposed by tournament organizers on Virtus.pro’s participation in CS:GO. In early 2022, tournament operators ESL and BLAST prohibited the team from competing under the club’s tag.

Virtus.pro is a club that became the champion at IEM Rio Major 2022, but they are now forced to play under the tag “Outsiders.” Even though it is now an Armenian organization, ESL, BLAST, and other companies conducted some sort of “incredible” investigation, which, truth be told, absolutely conclusively proved that the club still belongs to the same individuals linked to oligarchs and, thus, directly to Putin.

This is utter nonsense and should cease in 2023. Virtus.pro belongs to an Armenian company. Are you claiming it’s a front? Then prove it or shut up. I am a journalist, and I live by such standards. <…>

Meanwhile, how many Russian organizations participate in tournaments simply because they are not located in Russia? For example, Team Spirit—we don’t even know who owns the club, but that doesn’t bother us. <…> For some reason, everyone is concerned about Virtus.pro, probably because it’s historically the largest Russian club. ForZe is sponsored by the oil company “Lukoil,” but no one cares about that.

Prior to this, the Dota 2 roster also couldn’t play under the name Virtus.pro, but after a change in Valve’s company leadership, they allowed the team to revert to their previous name at DPC events.