According to a report in Dust2.us, the sister site of HLTV, a number of coaches could see sanctions handed down by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) prior to the start of the Antwerp Major. The event is due to kick off on May 9, just a week from today, and is just the second online Major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) has seen since the return to LAN following lockdowns.

The most impactful potential outcome of the investigation would obviously be the banning of active coaches that were planning to work at the forthcoming Major with their respective teams. Dust2’s report follows a series of articles on the topic, including an article published in Jaxon by Josse Van Dessel that could have explosive consequences if confirmed.

The Jaxon piece features a video, which you can see above that allegedly shows Luis “Peacemakers” Tadeu abusing the now-infamous no-clip bug back in 2018, while head coach of Heroic. Today, Peacemaker is coaching Imperial, who are qualified for Antwerp, but with ESIC due to potentially hand down a new wave of bans before that event begins it remains to be seen if he will be allowed to work in his official capacity in Belgium.

Evil Geniuses staff implicated in coaching bug controversy

Others implicated in recent reporting by Luis Mira and his crew at Dexerto include Evil Geniuses management team of Data Analyst Soham “valens” Chowdhury and Head Coach Damien “Malek” Marcel, although this will have no effect on the Major with EG failing to qualify for the event. Previous coaching bans have been circumvented by simply moving the banned staff member into a different role for the duration of the punishment.

CSGO was rocked by the coaching bug abuse case when it was initially exposed in 2020, and it seems the scene is a long way from being done with the scandal. Former Mousesports coach Allan "⁠Rejin⁠'' Petersen, current FaZe coach Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström and SK/MIBR’s Major winning coach Ricardo "⁠dead⁠" Sinigaglia are just some of the names that were banned following the investigation, although only the former remains banned to this day, with dead and Reijin having returned to the scene.

With the publication of the news that ESIC does intend to issue more sanctions, alongside the fact that at least one coach due to work in Antwerp has been directly implicated, there now comes a significant degree of pressure on ESIC to deliver their judgment. Any delay could see the implicated coaches working at the tournament, which would affect not only on the competitive integrity of the event, but also public perception of CSGO as a whole.