Valve suspends 19 more CS:GO players for match fixing

[ Valve and ESL have lifted the ban on the former ESC Gaming team, and reinstated its invitation to the Katowice 2015 offline qualifier.

Valve and ESL have lifted the ban on the former ESC Gaming team, and reinstated its invitation to the Katowice 2015 offline qualifier. "The ex-ESC players were restricted from participating in Valve-sponsored events because their historical account activity matched allegations of misconduct," Valve said in a statement. "However, further investigation has clarified their role in the matter, and the restriction has been lifted."]

Valve's ongoing investigation into pro-level Counter-Strike: Global Offensivematch fixing has resulted in the suspension of another 19 players from its sponsored events. The ban means that three teams—Epsilon eSports, the former ESC Gaming, and WinneR—will not be eligible to compete in the offline qualifier for the upcoming ESL One Katowice 2015.

ESL One has scheduled a "last-chance tournament" for February 8 to determine the teams that will replace Epsilon eSports and ESC Gaming, while LGB eSports and 3DMAX will take WinneR's position. The league noted that those two teams had been slated to play a third-place match in the second European qualifier, but that will no longer be necessary as both teams will now advance.

14 of the players determined to be involved in match fixing have been given indefinite suspensions that won't be reviewed prior to 2016:

Kevin “Uzzziii” Vernel Joey “fxy0” Schlosser Robin “GMX” Stahmer Morgan “B1GGY” Madour Damian “DiAMon” Zarski Michal “bCK” Lis Jakub “kub” Pamula Mateusz “matty” Kolodziejczyk Michal “michi” Majkowski Karol “rallen” Rodowicz Mikolaj “mouz” Karolewski Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziamalek Pawel “innocent” Mocek Jacek “minise” Jeziak

Another five have been declared ineligible for ESL One Katowice while the investigation continues:

Robin “r0bs3n” Stephan Tahsin “tahsiN” Sarikaya Koray “xall” Yaman Ammar “am0” Cakmak Antonin “TONI” Bernhardt

Valve again said that professional CS:GO players and teams "should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches" or associate with those who do, a position echoed by the ESL. "At ESL, we want to underline the fact that unsportsmanlike behavior, such as match fixing, will not be tolerated, and therefore the banned players will not be allowed to take part in any ESL CS:GO tournaments until these cases are reviewed by Valve," it said in a statement.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament at ESL One Katowice 2015 runs from March 12-15, and features a $250,000 prize pool.