Cyber Anji dissolves esports division after 4 months

The Russian football club FC Anji has dropped their Dota 2 squad and dissolved the Cyber Anji esports project after only four months.

Early in March, veteran and highly acclaimed Ukrainian player Alexander "XBOCT" Dashkevich made his return to competitive playing after an 8 month hiatus.  Brought on board for the Russian Premier League football organization's foray into esports, he was the face of the new division. At that time the squad was only transitioning from the idea phase into the development phase and other players had not yet even been decided on. With an extensive budget and resources in place, the new squad - when completed - was expected to make a big splash in the CIS scene. However, the team just quietly chipped away at their place in the playing field, participating in regional qualifiers and minor events with minimal results.

Two months later, XBOCT parted ways with the organization. Vadim "Sedoy" Musorin, was recruited to fill XBOCT's shoes as the carry player and the team continued to proceed on their current path with making small strides in their progress and future.

With a direct invite into the TI7 CIS regional qualifiers, the team stepped up to the plate with a chance to prove themselves as more than just a little fish in the big pond. A rocky start and bumpy results yielded an 8th place finish with a 3:6 record and elimination from the group stage.

Merely days later, reports surfaced of the organization cutting ties to the squad and dissolving the program.

This was not how the story was expected to unfold. With an extensive bank account, prominent status in the traditional sports world and a new future looking bright, the esports division was ripe for a promising foray. As too often happens, alleged conflicts between the players and organization regarding delayed payments, lack of support and undelivered promises led to the team packing their bags.

When we came to this Football Club with our project, we asked a year of time and a particular financial support to achieve results. We came to an understanding with the owners and got down to work (...)On 10th of May [agreed upon day of payment] the player’s salary never arrived [except for the first time, with only one player with a signed contract in the roster], after which I started calling the directors to inquire about the payment delays, and they said that it would arrive tomorrow. They kept feeding us with “tomorrow's” until the start of June (...) Eventually at some point in June we managed to spontaneously organize a meeting with the directors, where they explained the real reason for payment delays — unsatisfactory results, and that the club has only “expenses” on this project, considering that we asked for a year of time in the very first meeting while only 3 months has passed and the salary was paid out once to a single player at the time(...)We and the players were spat on and left in this position by the ownership. On this note, the “Cyber Anji” project officially closes down.”

According to the team manager per direct conversation, the team is aiming to stay together for the new season minus offlaner - Maxim 'yoky-' Kim, who seems to be going inactive for the time being.

Cyber Anji roster for TI7 qualifiers

Vadim "Sedoy" Musorin
Yaroslav 'Pikachu' Vasilenko
  Maxim 'yoky-' Kim
  Evgeniy 'Chuvash' Makarov
Alexander 'NoFear' Churochkin