The participation of CS:GO teams K23, 1WIN, and Aurora in the IEM Rio Major Europe Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament was in danger after the European Commission tightened the visa guidelines for Russian citizens traveling to European countries. But all three squads have managed to arrive in Malta for the RMR with their respective full lineups, according to HLTV.
K23 has five Russian players, 1WIN has four Russian players, and Aurora has three Russian players in its lineup. These teams were reportedly facing difficulties getting the visas of some of their players approved alongside Benched Heroes, who ultimately had to forfeit their Europe RMR spot to Illuminar Gaming because Russian player Eugene “Aunkere” Karyat and Turkish player Buğra “Calyx” Arkın failed to get their visas approved in time.
Other teams with Russian players attending the Europe RMR such as Natus Vincere, Cloud9, Team Spirit, G2, and Outsiders had more time to obtain their visas because they already had to travel to Malta between August and September to attend ESL Pro League season 16. ForZe arrived in Malta last week, according to HLTV, and OG’s Russian superstar Abdul “degster” Gasanov arrived two days ago.
Now that the attendance of K23, 1WIN, and Aurora has been reportedly confirmed, it means that there will be no need to call another backup team like Illuminar to play at the Europe RMR. There will be 32 European teams playing in the RMR starting tomorrow, Oct. 4, and they have been split into RMR A and B. Only half of the teams will advance to the IEM Rio Major at the end of the competition.
