1win has provided GosuGamers with a response regarding ESL giving their slot to OG for ESL One Birmingham 2024, telling their side of the story.
ESL One Birmingham is making a highly anticipated return to the UK at the end of the month. But it isn't going smoothly for some, as visa delays have once again wreaked havoc on tournament invites and participation.
Four hours doesn't seem like much, but in this case, it was enough to wipe out one team's hopes of competition.
Earlier today it was announced that OG would replace 1Win at ESL One Birmingham citing visa issues. Per ESL’s official announcement, the deadline expired this past Monday, on the 8th of April, when 1Win could not confirm their participation.
Shortly after the announcement, 1Win provided a detailed and official statement to GosuGamers, shedding light on the situation.
According to 1Win, ESL had granted extensions for the visa process. This extension was particularly crucial as 1Win had initiated their visa procedures the day after securing their slot by winning the EEU regional qualifiers. The deadline for a decision on the British visa is six weeks – March 28. On March 27th The British Consulate reached out to ESL to confirm 1Win's participation, prompting ESL to extend the deadline for one extra week to April 8th, 12:00 CET.
This is where things get really intense as stated by 1win:
"It is important to keep in mind that ESL's final deadline fell on a weekend during which no official consulate is open. We are grateful to ESL for the extra time, but please keep this fact in mind - the allotted deadline was not enough. Not because of 1win or ESL, but because of bureaucratic rules.April 8, 11:55 CET — we inform ESL that there is a response and ask for time until the evening to provide confirmation.
April 8, 13:13 CET — ESL asks to provide confirmation. We asked for a couple more hours, but were ready to provide a completed coach visa. Given that we were applying as a group, the rest of the visas were on their way ready.
April 8, 14:19 CET — we are notified of our exclusion from the tournament.
April 8, 16:00 CET — we received our visas.
Now all players and staff have visas in their hands, dated April 8, 2024."
For 1Win, the issue boiled down to a matter of hours, and they maintained consistent coordination and efforts throughout. However, for ESL One, it was a matter of a missed deadline.
For the players, organization, and integrity of qualifiers, four hours has come with a high price to pay.
1Win secured their spot at the $1,000,000 tournament via Eastern European qualifiers where they placed second, after Team Spirit. 1win is a Russian esports organization founded in 2020, in Counter-Strike. They made their entrance to Dota 2 in February 2024 with the signing of the Klim Sani4 roster.
1win roster
Nikita “Munkushi~” Chepurnykh
CHIRA_JUNIORALEXANDER “cloud” ZAKHAROVGeorgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov
RESPECT
