ESIC bans 37 coaches from CS:GO in landmark investigation

The CS:GO esports world was rocked early in September when investigations revealed how prominent coaches of professional CS:GO teams used the infamous spectator bug in tournaments. From MIBR, Heroic and Hard Legion's coaches being banned to Pita and Rejin admitted they used the coaching bug, the drama just continued to unfold. 

Now, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has revealed the results of their investigation, and the use of the coaching bug in CS:GO seems to be more widespread than fans initially believed, with 37 CS:GO coaches receiving bans as a result of this landmark investigation.

ESIC investigation into CS:GO coaches

The ESIC has banned 37 CS:GO coaches for the use of the spectator bug. The CS:GO coaches in question are banned from  3.75 to 36 months depending on the severity of their actions.

Read more: Valve cancels CS:GO Rio Major, responds to coaching bug controversy

The ESIC notes in their report that only 20% of demos have been checked so far. However, the organization did reveal their first report.

ESIC announces sanctions against 37 individuals in relation to the exploitation of the Spectator Bug.

Only 20% of available data (99,650 demos) has been examined.

ESIC to issue one final report at the end of October to close the investigation. pic.twitter.com/tyduJkVvxo

— ESIC (@ESIC_Official) September 28, 2020

The final report from this massive ESIC investigation will be available at the end of October 2020.

ESIC also shared a message to the CS:GO community: "We understand that these revelations have been tough for many people within the CS:GO community, but we believe it is in the long term best interests of the game and all of esports for integrity breaches to be dealt with head on.

"We know that most coaches, players, tournament organisers, publishers and developers, fans, sponsors and broadcasters want CS:GO and esports to be clean and a fair competition between players and teams doing their very best to win. We see our job as being to ensure that that happens and that corrupt and bad actors are rehabilitated or removed."

Which CS:GO coaches have been banned?

The investigation by ESIC found the following coaches using the spectator bug.

• Read more: 25,000 competitive CS:GO matches to be checked for spectator exploit; teams have limited time to fess up

Check out the list below alongside the period they have been banned for.

• Slaava "⁠Twista⁠" Räsänen - 15.75 months
• Peter "⁠casle⁠" Sørensen - 10 months
• Rodrigo "⁠dinamo⁠" Haro - 10 months
• Arno "⁠ArnoZ1K4⁠" Junior - 10 months
• Allan "⁠Rejin⁠" Petersen - 19.8 months
• Eliomar "glou" Hernandez - 10 months
• Arthur "⁠prd⁠" Resende - 10 months
• Alexey "⁠NooK⁠" Kozlovskiy - 7.5 months
• Henrique "⁠rikz⁠" Waku - 10 months
• Alessandro "⁠Apoka⁠" Marcucci - 5.4 months
• Aleksandr "⁠zoneR⁠" Bogatiryev - 36 months
• Germán "hellpa" Morath - 10 months
• Egor "fuRy^" Morin - 7.5 months
• Aset "⁠Solaar⁠" Sembiyev - 10 months
• Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen - 8 months
• Ricardo "⁠dead⁠" Sinigaglia - 6.5 months
• Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira - 4 months
• Faruk "⁠pita⁠" Pita - 10 months
• Erik "⁠AKIMOV⁠" Akimov - 7.5 months
• Ivan "⁠F_1N⁠" Kochugov - 8.75 months
• Bruno "⁠ellllll⁠" Ono - 10 months 
• Pedro "⁠peu⁠" Lopes - 5 months
• Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström - 5.5 months
• Mariusz "⁠Loord⁠" Cybulski - 6 months
• Anton "⁠ToH1o⁠" Georgiev - 10 months
• Andrey "⁠Andi⁠" Prokhorov - 10 months
• Milan "⁠pepik⁠" Gellebra - 10 months
• Morgan "⁠B1GGY⁠" Madour - 7.5 months
• Christian "⁠chrille⁠" Lindberg - 10 months 
• Sergey "⁠starix⁠" Ischuk - 10 months
• Alexander "⁠ave⁠" Holdt - 6 months
• Jasmeet "⁠RoSeY⁠" Gill - 10 months
• Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov - 7.5 months
• Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen - 3.75 months
• Mikołaj "⁠miNirox⁠" Michałków - 3.75 months 
• Nikolay "⁠pNshr⁠" Paunin - 3.75 months
• Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due - 3.75 months

Coaches who have confessed before the investigation results have had their sentences reduced.

• Read more: pita and Rejin first coaches to admit using spectator bug in official games

Since only 20% of the data has been checked thus far, it remains to be seen how many professional CS:GO coaches will be banned at the end of October when a final report will be unveiled.

Coaches can appeal the ESIC's decision by emailing Kevin Carpenter, the Chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Panel.