Evgenii "Gufis" Kondratev I've been working in esports for more than 12 years and have seen many things. The following story is unique and bizarre. Team Spirit signed a nine-year-old kid who is a dedicated Counter-Strike player.
Amir "Han" Darchinov is only nine, but he already has around 7800 in-game hours as well as more than 2300 ELO on FaceIT. These numbers are huge (7800 hours is 325 days, can you believe that?) and Team Spirit is known for discovering young talents (look at donk and kyosuke). However, signing a nine-year-old kid might look too much.
It is worth noting that both Steam and FaceIT have a minimum age requirement to use their services. You should be at least 13, and in some countries CS2 has a higher age rating (Russia does not enforce one). As a result, after the news broke out, FaceIT banned Han for four years (until he turns 13), and I won't be surprised if Steam ban will follow as well.
Image: faceit.com
You should understand that Team Spirit didn't sign Han to immediately bring him into team competitions. He will likely receive mentorship and try to learn as much as possible, so that in several years he will break through the scene like donk did.
However, after the story went public, it may hurt both the player (he can't play on FaceIT) and the club (some people would think that a nine-year-old professional player is too much). If the Dragons think that there's no such thing as bad publicity, so be it. But the whole situation is really unusual, and maybe next time, parents of such youngsters will remain silent.
Main image: youtube.com
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