This player can end his 7-year Major title drought at IEM Rio 2022

The playoffs participants of the IEM CS:GO Rio Major have been confirmed, and one player has the chance to claim the Major trophy after seven years.

The player is none other than Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, who has two Major trophies under his belt—he won with Fnatic during ESL One: Katowice 2015 and ESL One: Cologne 2015. The latter event took place in August 2015, and KRIMZ is the only Fnatic player from that roster to be participating in the Rio Major, and he’s still in the competition for the title.

KRIMZ is also one of the six players remaining in the tournament that has a chance of claiming the Major trophy for another time in their career. The other five are the core of Natus Vincere, who won the PGL Stockholm Major 2021, and Cloud9’s Abai “HObbit” Hasenov, who triumphed in the PGL Major Kraków 2017.

Playing at the IEM Rio Major is already an achievement for KRIMZ, who ended his Major drought after failing to qualify for the previous three Valve-sponsored events. He missed the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 and the following two organized by PGL in Stockholm and Antwerp.

If KRIMZ manages to win the Major trophy in Brazil, it will also end the seven-year drought for Fnatic, which as an organization hasn’t claimed any Major titles since Cologne 2015. The European team have a tough road ahead of them. In the quarterfinals, they will face Outsiders before playing the winner of the C9 vs. MOUZ matchup in the semifinals.

The Major continues on Thursday, Nov. 10.