FACEIT: "Valve proposed rule on multiple team ownership"

It was Valve that suggested that the rulebook for the next Major tackles the issue of multiple team ownership, FACEIT co-founder and Chief Business Officer (CBO) Michele Attisani has told HLTV.org.

The online qualifiers for the FACEIT Major will have an "entry restriction" rule stating that "teams and players should not have any financial interest in the success of any team that they are competing against."

The introduction of this rule aims to prevent multiple team ownership cases and will run throughout the entirety of the Major cycle, with teams and players having until the start of the stage of the competition in which they find themselves to disclose potential conflicts of interest and how they plan to address such issues.

Contacted by HLTV.org, FACEIT refused to comment on specific situations - such as RFRSH Entertainment's ownership of Astralis, HEROIC and GODSENT, or Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko' ties to pro100 -, but confirmed that the rule was proposed by Valve itself.

"It was something that was proposed by Valve to include in our rulebooks, but something we fully support," Mr. Attisani told HLTV.org.

"The integrity of a competition, especially something as big as a CS:GO Major, should always be the priority for the publisher and the organizer and to do this we want to establish an open line of communication with teams and players.

"We will work directly with teams to understand how they plan to resolve the conflict."

When asked about what would happen should a conflict of interest be discovered after the start of the competition, the FACEIT chief guaranteed that teams face "the risk of being disqualified immediately."

Mr. Attisani also revealed that teams and players competing at the FACEIT Major will need to accept the following condition in order to be able to participate in the tournament:

"I am not currently aware of any conflict of interest that I might have with another participating team or any player on another participating team. If I currently have a conflict of interest, or become aware of one over the course of the event, I will immediately provide detail to the tournament officials explaining the nature of my relationship with the other player or players, and a plan for resolving the issue in the future. I understand that failure to report my conflict of interest may result in my disqualification from the event and/or forfeiture of proceeds.”

The qualifying process for the Major began on May 14 and will run through July 1. All four Minors will be held at the Twickenham Stadium, in London, while the Major itself will culminate with a live event at the SSE Arena, also in the British capital.