ESL forbids banned FURIA coach from talking to his team backstage at IEM Rio Major, players say

The CS:GO players of FURIA started a movement on Twitter today urging Valve to take a look at their head coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira’s suspension from Majors. They’ve said that ESL, the organizer of IEM Rio Major, has forbidden guerri from even talking with them backstage.

“Now CS:GO has an opportunity to change the injustice that they made with guerri looking closely at all the facts that prove him innocent,” the players tweeted today. “The situation is so bizarre that he even can’t join the backstage at the event to talk to the players. Nobody should be treated like this. Guerri dedicated his heart to the game for more than 15 years, and he has given so much more love than he is receiving from the publisher. I hope now they could answer in a different way. #freeguerri.”

Guerri himself commented on Twitter as well. “Hi Valve, it’s me again,” the Brazilian coach said. “I’m not asking to just let me free. Please just put someone to look closely at my case.”

Section 2.7.3 of the IEM Rio Major’s rulebook has a few restrictions in place for banned coaches and also says that “additional restrictions may be applied as needed by the tournament administration.” Here is everything that banned coaches can’t do at the Major.

Section 2.7.3 Banned coaches

“Coaches that have been banned by ESL or Valve have the following restrictions applied to them:

• Must not actively or passively communicate with the team starting 15 minutes prior to the official match start time and until the end of the match.
• Must not be physically present around the team starting 15 minutes prior to the official match start time and until the end of the match.
• Must not be on the game server during official matches.
• Must not be on the official match channel on the Discord server.
• Must not be part of the official map veto process nor be in communication with the team during it.

Additional restrictions may be applied as needed by the tournament administration.”

Understanding guerri’s case

Guerri was one of the 37 coaches suspended by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) in September 2020 due to his alleged use of the coach spectator bug that allowed coaches to place their camera anywhere on the map or free roam throughout the map. Valve later banned guerri from attending five CS:GO Majors in total, meaning he’ll only be free following the second Major of 2023.

FURIA appealed to the ESIC this year and the esports watchdog reduced his Major ban due to the understanding that guerri didn’t abuse the bug after all. His mistake, according to ESIC, was to not disconnect from the match and inform the match admin.

Valve, however, didn’t accept ESIC’s deduction and has kept guerri banned from Majors until 2023. The 32-year-old has been following the IEM Rio Major from the crowd and FURIA is using its co-owner and professional poker player André Akkari as the head coach throughout the tournament.

Dot Esports has reached out to ESL for comment on this situation.