faveN released by BLEED; open to CIS teams

The German player is out of a contract after spending the last three months on the bench.

BLEED have terminated Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann's contract, the German player announced on Thursday. The decision comes almost three months after the 24-year-old was moved to the bench to make way for Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković's arrival.

faveN had been on BLEED's books since they entered Counter-Strike at the end of 2023, signing with the Singaporean organization after two years on BIG.

His tenure started off promisingly, but his numbers took a hit once he switched to the anchor position, forcing head coach Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović to look for a different option for the role.

"This role wasn't meant for him at all," kassad told HLTV in July following nexa's unveiling. "And I think he couldn't really handle it properly.

"He's going to be good on any other team where he doesn't get this role, and he's going to be playing much better because he's a really good player."

On X, faveN acknowledged that his last games for BLEED "didn't show the real me" and said he is "ready and motivated" to compete again.

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BLEED bench nexa after 2.5 months

faveN, who is of Kazakh descent, also opened the door to a career turn. "Since many people don't know it, I can speak fluent Russian," he wrote. "I'm also open to CIS teams."

The German's departure comes at a time when BLEED are in the market for two new players. The team is missing an in-game leader and an AWPer after Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser and Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson were loaned out to Johnny Speeds and fnatic respectively.

nexa, faveN's replacement on the team, was recently moved to the bench and is on the lookout for a new project.