roeJ announces retirement: "I hope to have inspired others to go for their dream in CS"

The 31-year-old will remain involved in esports in a management position.

Former Copenhagen Flames and fnatic member Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen announced his retirement from Counter-Strike at the age of 31 on Tuesday. He had been without a team since Gaimin Gladiators dropped their roster at the end of 2024, making his final appearance on Saturday as a stand-in for Tricked in a CCT Closed Qualifier match.

"For the last one or two years, my motivation and joy for the game have been very inconsistent," roeJ told HLTV. "That was definitely new for me because up until that point in my career, I had been pretty much living and breathing Counter-Strike and loving every minute of it.

"It's hard to keep going and putting in 100+ hours every two weeks when you no longer have the same love for the game. And it doesn't feel right for me to be on a team struggling to give even 80% when your friends and teammates are giving 100% and have big ambitions."

roeJ won two international LANs and attended four Majors, but those numbers don't really capture his unique career. He was something of a late bloomer, joining his first professional team, Copenhagen Flames, in 2018. By then, he was already 25.

His first taste of international success came in 2019, when he won the V4 Future Sports Festival in Budapest with Tricked after beating Virtus.pro in the final. The core of that team would go on to win the first edition of Flashpoint under MAD Lions, netting $500,000 — by far the biggest prize in roeJ's career.

The Dane took a detour in 2021 as he returned to Copenhagen Flames after MAD Lions moved away from a Danish-speaking roster and opted to build an international lineup.

That ended up being one of the most successful periods in roeJ's career: he developed into a star player and helped Copenhagen Flames reach the Legends stage of the Stockholm Major and the playoffs of the Antwerp Major.

roeJ went on to play for fnatic, with whom he won Elisa Masters Espoo in 2022, Preasy and Gaimin Gladiators, remaining a solid role player for those teams.

"I started kind of 'going for it' when I was 23 years old, back when I was level 6-8 on FACEIT," roeJ reflected. "I think I can thank myself for not putting too much thought into whether I would make it or not. I just went for it.

"If I knew at the start how hard it would be to make it, especially considering my age, I would never have even tried. I'm very proud of and grateful for my career, and I hope to have inspired others to go for their dream in CS and see that it's still possible, even if you're not 16 or 18 years old."

With his playing days now behind him, roeJ has been hired by UNCORE, the talent agency that represented him and that was founded by his former Copenhagen Flames coach Daniel "⁠Vorborg⁠" Vorborg. He will be working for the company as Talent & Partnerships Manager.

"I'll be part of the management team, mainly helping in providing the best possible service for current and future talent, and assisting in securing partnerships for different clients," he explained.

"I'll definitely stay involved with esports, as I'm continuing my journey with UNCORE. I'm happy to have gotten the opportunity, as I was very happy with their representation of me as a player, and as I believe the way they do management is something I align with."