Spirit expands academy with four new teams

12-4-2025 10:56

The Serbian organization will build U12, U14, and two U16 rosters, taking "soccer academies as a basis."

donk and zont1x are two of many Spirit Academy graduates

Spirit have announced an expansion of their academy, with trials underway for four new youth teams from under-12 upwards.

Academy manager Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev said that the project was deliberately modelled on "soccer academies" with a clear trajectory from U12 to U14, before two U16 squads lead to the primary Spirit Academy team and, eventually, the main roster.

The moment when the guys from the current [academy] squad will go further up the career ladder is not far off

Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev, Spirit Academy Manager

Spirit, with the help of scout Aleksei "⁠OverDrive⁠" Birukov, have a reputation for spotting talent early and have even signed players as young as nine years old in the past.

"The most important thing we wanted to achieve was continuity," Soul3 continued. "So that a player from the U16 squad, moving to the main roster of the academy, would not face problems of adaptation: that the style of play, schedule, training methods were already familiar to him. Everything should be clear and logical."

S0tF1k will continue as head coach

The "momentous decision" was taken late in December 2024 and preparations have been underway since January 2025 with Dmitry "⁠S0tF1k⁠" Forostyanko continuing as head coach.

Spirit Academy has already nurtured several notable tier one professionals, from their own Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia to the likes of Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev, Kirill "⁠Magnojez⁠" Rodnov, Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov, Pavel "⁠S1ren⁠" Ogloblin, Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin and Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov.

Media: Falcons set sights on kyousuke

Part of the motivation, Soul3 says, is that "the moment when the guys from the current main squad will go further up the career ladder is not far off."

The current team includes Falcons target Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin and Daniel "⁠syph0⁠" Ageyev, who previously trialled for Cloud9.

let them kids go to school bru

2025-04-12 10:57

696

71 replies

school in 2025 lol

2025-04-12 11:00

131

they're out of school by 2pm already, what are you talking about?

2025-04-12 11:10

57 replies

arent they supposed to study after school? do their homework, this is child work basically

2025-04-12 11:16

53 replies

homework takes 1 hour AT MOST at this age here, I remember coming home and doing it in 15 minutes.

2025-04-12 11:19

36 replies

better to do 1hr of homework than spend hours in front of a screen in their childhood, theyre kids man, let them play for fun and not for creating future donk

2025-04-12 11:21

34 replies

cry about it. do you think the kids are not wasting their time on pc already before this? now they just get to play in an academy team instead of just mindlessly playing games.

2025-04-12 11:23

32 replies

theyre encouraging it, giving false hopes to thousands if not millions of kids that now they can be the next donk and further waste their time on these games

2025-04-12 11:28

31 replies

yeah not like it happens in every other sport but somehow you are just bitching about it because its cs lol. the kids who will enter such team will already be interested in being pro + they spend their days on the pc anyway. it is much better for them to be in a professional environment instead of mindlessly playing faceit all day long. stop getting so offended for others, its their life not yours.

2025-04-12 11:31

14 replies

physical sport is good for a developing child, sitting in front of a computer screen for hours playing video games isnt, but i wouldnt expect my common sense from you, probably a 13yo who thinks youll be the next donk

2025-04-12 11:32

13 replies

lmao getting personal are we? wouldnt expect less from an internet warrior who can only get offended for others but cant take care of their own life. ps. nothing prevents these kids from doing physical sports on the side, its not like they will be playing everyday for 8 hours lol

2025-04-12 11:37

5 replies

#52 you said yourself theyre already doing it. and im saying it is encouraging more. try using some common sense. No one is offended here

2025-04-12 11:45

Kitchen is on fire the way bro’s cooking this mfer

2025-04-12 12:32

2 replies

quite a fascinating display don't u think? a delulu self righteous warrior getting ratioed by his beloved internet, trying desperately to defend his karen logic just to get ratioed even further. u don't see this everyday

2025-04-14 07:36

1 reply

Tbh i see it almost daily on this site

2025-04-14 12:34

Everything is good in moderation, even the World of Warcraft. I think academy is a good development. Gaming is a skill as well, kids can learn a lot from playing properly. Exercise and mental, will be a part of any self respecting academy.

2025-04-25 21:32

stop generalizing hobbies onto everyone as you see fit. you aren't them, you are you. let them do what they want and stop projecting PLEASE!

2025-04-12 16:01

please stop using words you see on the internet without knowing their meaning

2025-04-12 16:46

do you not understand something?? the context is perfectly fine for every word I said if you know what I mean then you are just proving you have no argument

2025-04-12 16:51

that is not objective, there are many kids who are in sports just because their families are putting them up to it, many hate it.

2025-04-14 07:31

3 replies

playing sports is not good for a developing child? If you had a child what would you prefer? playing cs in front of a screen for hours or playing football with their friends. "there are many kids who are in sports just because their families are putting them up to it, many hate it." again, its also wrong when youre trying to make your child the next ronaldo or roger federer but playing physical sports when youre young has way more benefits than sitting in front of a computer screen

2025-04-14 09:48

you can do both you know, a kid does not have many responsibilities, i played both basketball and pc everyday around 3-4 hours each

2025-04-14 17:50

totally, you can do both, but in todays age, dont you think it would encourage more kids who will try harder to get selected? kids are susceptible and stupid

2025-04-14 18:22

As if that doesn't happen already in every other thing in the world. At least there will be a real chance to get through, instead of grinding aimlessly for the sake of it.

2025-04-12 11:33

6 replies

#65 you know how stupid kids are right? how easily they are influenced? you dont see how this is bad for young kids?

2025-04-12 11:34

You think that those academies existing will suddenly make so many more kids waste their childhoods away playing CS? Didn't happen with NAVI junior or NAVI Youth(U14 pretty much), and I don't see why would it happen now.

2025-04-12 11:39

Didn't happen with NAVI junior or NAVI Youth(U14 pretty much)?? how do you know it didnt happen? you seriously dont think it is going to encourage more kids to try out for professional cs?? theyll have to spend more time playing cs to get good in hopes of getting selected?

2025-04-12 11:43

Alright, I understand your concern and where you're coming from. Still, I think those opportunities are a net positive.

2025-04-12 11:49

idk if he's baiting u or himself; he is so lost

Video games in moderation can actually be good for development too, it's not all black and white, of course if they game 16 hrs a day and drop out it's a problem, but it's also the role of the kid and the parents to create a balance. Anything in excess is bad, too much studying or physical activities can be as well. Kinda pointless to be all against, it just has to be regulated.

2025-04-12 14:26

encouraging lol, government also encouraged no m*rder and crimes, i wonder how that worked out? Governments has been encouraging what you just said for decades, hard to imagine an org opening up more cs teams can pose a threat to this. another point the fin mentioned is, kids nowadays is already filled with electronic devices, social media and mobile games are filled with underaged kids, i don't see u screaming at those kids online? but so triggered because some new russian cs team. tbh i'd rather my kids to be on cs instead of other mobile games. If you would like your kids to be stripped from all distractions, please consider moving to North Korea, it is a nice country with a lot of "correct" activities for childrens to do. regards,

2025-04-12 11:50

youre doing stupid comparisons, but if we go by your logic, youre defending murder just because people are already doing it. "i don't see u screaming at those kids online" no shit you dont see me are you stupid? how did you come to the conclusion that im ok with young kids spending all their time in their room on mobile screens? "tbh i'd rather my kids to be on cs instead of other mobile games." I would rather they do it in limits so as to not hurt their growth. Again stupid comparison with NK and youre over reacting as if im saying no one should play cs, play but in limits, but spirit academy for U12 will only promote and encourage more kids to play more than avg

2025-04-12 13:49

funny how deluded self righteousness calls themselves logical nowadays. to play cs at high level in young age, you need hardware most homes don't have, even if they have the hardware, there is a concept called parents, that is 2 people, male and female, having a say in whether or not their child get to play video games. its hard to imagine responsible parents (or parents in general) for u guys over there, and I completely understand why it is hard for you to imagine. it is a way out for some poor families, get a job early to support their families, again, understandable, ppl in india doesn't seem to have this chance anyways, maybe the best they can do is change another street to clean up cow dung?

2025-04-12 17:38

4 replies

youre from china obviously you wont know anything about having a childhood. They day youre born youre forced to play some sport because your parents are too scared if you wont get a medal you wont get your monthly ration from CCP

2025-04-12 21:56

did u clean ur daily potion of cow dung before logging on to hltv?

2025-04-13 05:18

does poo jinping know youre active on hltv?

2025-04-13 09:06

did u finish the third street?

2025-04-13 12:18

You don't have to be next donk to earn cash from CS LMAO. Look at Dupreeh - most accomplished player in history, and he was mid at best, supportive player.

2025-04-12 13:32

you're gonna love how footballers who get released from academies are treated LMAO.

2025-04-12 23:38

I don't understand your point. You come home at 2pm, do 1 or even 2 hours of homework and it's 3-4 pm. You have like 7-8 hours until your bedtime, in which you can do whatever, including practice in CS. Nobody is forcing these kids to join these academies, and it will allow them to at least try out pro CS if they're already skilled enough, while not ruining their future lives and giving them their first paychecks. Don't forget that parents of those kids have to consent to it, so I see absolutely no issue with this.

2025-04-12 11:25

I don't know about now, but 10 years ago at their ages we had a shit ton of homework. It took 3-4 hours to finish it if you did everything thoroughly yourself. But, of course, most of the tasks were skipped or cheated from the Internet, well, you know it yourself, I guess. Now, with ai it will be even more easy, but that's if these guys don't give a fuck about their education, of course, and they should.

2025-04-12 18:08

india talking about child labor lmao

2025-04-12 11:20

india has banned child labour nice try

12 replies

bro these guys are so ignorant yet speak such confident 'stupid' sometimes its extremely funny

2025-04-12 11:27

they cant come up with a nice comeback so they just say flag

2025-04-12 11:29

their comebacks were valid maybe 15 years ago living in the past in the big 2025

2025-04-12 11:30

crime is illegal but we still have crime, nt tho india

2025-04-12 12:11

8 replies

'medicine doesn't work because people still get sick' ahh argument nt tho swedistan

2025-04-12 13:16

7 replies

so ur saying u do still have lots of child labor even though its been outlawed? thanks for agreeing india

2025-04-12 14:41

No you need to go back to school swedistan 1 hour homework is too less for you you need to work more

meds + english classes

2025-04-12 16:05

Good checklist Start with meds and then enroll in English class

2025-04-12 16:09

at least u have ur next week planned out, i believe in u india

2025-04-12 16:56

this is your schedule next week my dear swedistan you really need schooling

2025-04-12 19:22

dont forget to pick up ur meds first thing monday

2025-04-12 19:25

flag ☝🤓🤓🤓

2025-04-12 12:53

This is not gonna be any different than kids pursuing traditional sports, they just have practice a couple days a week for 2-3 hours. It's not as time consuming as you may think, they'll still have plenty of time to do other stuff

2025-04-12 17:19

2pm is crazy

2025-04-12 11:40

Is it different in other countries? I'm clueless

here its 4pm

2025-04-12 11:41

Lets not be delusional here, they will play video games no matter what, its better to have an experienced organization that can guide them than them just playing aimlessly alone.

2025-04-12 11:22

true if they're good enough to get scouted by a pro org they probably already spend most of their free time playing cs atleast now they have a controlled environment where they could progress instead of just brainlessly qing that mental asylum called faceit

2025-04-12 12:52

They learn quicky respect, rather than just yelling blyat at everyone in faceit. As much as it is a hellish thing to have kids grinding a video game rather than getting higher education, if you are going to turn kids into "super stars" it beats most of the shit children do to become famous.

2025-04-12 16:54

Thats probably the point. Making say a U-12 only "having" to play 3-4 hours a day and not commit to the academy team as much as say 18 year old FL4MUS. Its smart really

2025-04-12 11:26

these kids aren't full time professionals, it's akin to after school club sports

need more donks

2025-04-12 11:52

school is useless and produces wage slaves

2025-04-12 13:09

They are already likely grinding faceit already what's the difference.

2025-04-12 13:56

These kids still get better education than americans.

2025-04-12 16:52

XDDDDDDDDD

2025-04-12 17:31

You say that like they're going to take millions of kids out of school instead of grabbing the 10-20 kids who already play CS every day after school. Also, Donk finished school while competing in tier 1 CS so shut up

2025-04-12 18:35

they won't learn shit there buddy

2025-04-12 21:14

YES!!!!! KYOUSUKE!!!!!!!

what are you so happy about, bimbo?

2025-04-12 11:18

kyousuke

2025-04-12 16:12

Sheesh!

ABOVE discussion - @not_new_to_hltv_anymore is right

2025-04-14 07:27

lol))

2025-04-14 09:44

yeah I can't wait to sign my 6 year old son for Spirit Academy

142

New donk soon

2025-04-12 10:58

that one 10-year-old child from Kazakhstan celebrating rn

More and more donks will appear

They are literally building the Barcelona legacy

la rusia

underrated comment

2025-04-12 12:41

The one should at least know basic football to understand it

2025-04-12 16:55

8/8

2025-04-12 15:37

La Serbía

2025-04-12 17:00

This is not good kids need to go to school and be with friends, we should as HLVT to cancel russain propaganda

18 replies

How exactly is this ANY different than kids playing other sport?

2025-04-12 11:13

16 replies

sports is good for a child, sitting in front of a screen for long isnt

2025-04-12 11:17

Ironic response considering going to school is so important to you

Ironic you go to french school and french people are minority there

2025-04-12 11:24

From bad takes to racism in one comment, wouldn't have expected anything more from an EU flag Have a great day (don't) and cya in 3!

when did i say that? are you dumb?

Casual sport is. Competitive sport training regiments are rarely any good for your body long term

agreed but still, even competitive sport training is better than competitive esport training for a kid

Ah, depends. I don't know exactly the ways Spirit are going to do it, but I imagine it would work akin to top chess clubs, for example. Also mostly sitting there and watching at a board, but thinking in given time constraints instead of reacting and executing collective patterns (like smoke lineups or whatever).

2025-04-12 11:44

but dont you think this would encourage and influence more kids into wasting their youth on a computer game hoping they get selected? Spirit is trying to make another donk

2025-04-12 11:46

If their parents won't agree - nobody will sign anyone. Those kids can't sign anything themselves yet.

2025-04-12 11:54

u gotta show some more understanding to him, hard to imagine free will from a country still ranking ppl in tier lists

2025-04-12 11:53

youre from china bro, i doubt you can say anything without permission of CCP

2025-04-12 13:51

im glad ccp didn't approve caste system

2025-04-12 17:13

+100 Social credits

2025-04-12 21:53

Esports = sports 💔🥀

Correct

stop

2025-04-12 16:13

Vitality should do the same thing tbh. Tons of kids are interested in Vitality now that they are dominating. Capitalize on the hype and attract next-gen kids from all of Europe.

next u5??

2025-04-12 10:59

Spirit taking over cs

bro u12 is crazy Let them have a childhood ffs

2025-04-12 11:01

Nobody's forcing kids into this academy program.

Same can be said about kids preparing for Olympics 24/7 since 6yo? Or you think it's different?

yes, same thing for Olympics is also bad, people treat kids like theyre a product which they need to perfect

2025-04-12 13:52

dawg i was playing shadow fight on facebook for 8 hours a day at 10

2025-04-12 12:19

true i was on that GRIND on dragon city in 2nd grade

2025-04-12 12:43

yo that shit's fire I still have my account

lol i was farming pedestrians on streets in GTA III at 9

2025-04-12 16:06

Surely this wont end bad right

international or only Russian-speaking?

CIS

2025-04-12 11:09

Cool

2025-04-12 16:14

conveyor of donks

4??? gg

2025-04-12 11:02

They are counting on Overdrive too much now. They think he is something and he can repeat donk again, it was all luck to find him.

2025-04-12 11:05

overdrive found a lot more than just donk

He is not the only one to look for players s0tf and soul3 also scout for players

2025-04-12 12:18

Monopoly on young talents smh

Those can't play tournaments yet anyway. And given that there's still only 1 Spirit Academy team, while the previous level has 10 players, that means 5 of those will be able, or even forced, to go elsewhere if they decide to continue that path. They also have to look outside for the second U16 team anyway, as there's only one of each U12 and U14. Like, I'm sorry, but "5 players for age bracket" doesn't really strike me as monopoly.

2025-04-12 11:51

W OVERDRIVE watch him find 4 new donks/kyousukes also this reminds me of the EG blueprint project 💀

2025-04-12 11:03

EG was like 3 mediocre pro teams that couldnt even play in the same tournaments. Obviously a ridiculous nonsense idea. This is just an academy program like hundreds of sports clubs have all over the world, nothing crazy really

many teams should take Spirit as an example of great management and scouting wonderkids

2025-04-12 11:07

it's easy when you have 90% of kids playing cs in cis and not other trash games, that advertising gambling is not making drama and salary in subtop team is enough to live in their countries so they don't even bother going for studies not criticizing tho, spirit are goated for this

2025-04-12 13:11

Hltv calls football Soccer. This can't be real.

2025-04-12 11:11

bastards….

Disappointed

2025-04-12 13:37

not hltv, it's Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev who called it soccer. hltv is just quoting him Academy manager Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev said that the project was deliberately modelled on "soccer academies"

2025-04-14 07:30

funny thing for me is that the game is rated M, i know nobody cares about that (me included) but it is funny creating U12 and U14 for games esbr said "shouldnt" be for children

2025-04-12 11:12

There could be problems for U12 academy though, Faceit doesn't allow that stuff (13+ only as far as I remember).

12 year olds are saying more sexually depraved things than adults from 30 years ago

Wow

2025-04-12 11:14

making $ on children. its ok.

All sports clubs do this. Parents paying out the wazoo for some unc that yells at their kids every weekend.

Kids in sports clubs can actually complete, after all that´s what lot of them want actually do. Clubs don´t have 5 youth teams that lock each other out from any potential competition. What the actually analogy is a football team where they only have trainings, and their sole purpose is to be sold in some indefinite future, if anyone will want to buy them at all. That to me seems more like a bussiness model for the org, rather than kids having fun, which is what kids sports should actually be about, despite it often not being the case (especially in team sports). At least in real sports, kids aren´t contractually obliged to stay on the team, and don´t require a buyout, at least to my knowledge.

2025-04-12 12:26

5 amirhans will be crazy bruh u12 is WILD

cant wait for donk1 donk2 donk3 and donk123

Why even say Sypho's name, he is awful. Any team in tier 3 has better players

that's fucking awesome

They are just pumping out donks and kyosukes like a factory

cant wait for 2032 when zywoo is battling some currently 11yo who's in spirit's baby school for HLTV top 1

Eg bis

dude what is this, damn

2025-04-12 11:42

yes

"The Serbian organization will build U12, U14, and two U16 rosters".It's Russian organization.

serbian #srbijadotokija

2025-04-12 12:20

Project Xantares, but make it russian

U12, watch them all get faceit banned like that Kazakh kid

2025-04-12 12:03

They tryna print out donks 💀

2025-04-12 12:05

Damn, Spirit making sure they will profit off of every young talent in CIS scene :D But I guess if they provide good infrastructure for the young guys to develop then it's fair enough right

2025-04-12 12:09

this is fucking eugenics

2025-04-12 12:34

imagine in 5 years Zywoo had to play against 5 donks scary

2025-04-12 18:26

first donk then kyousuke and now they're printing mini donks is literally like khabib in ufc first khabib then islam and now there's like 50 ppl from dagestan choking tf out of everyone anyway Sent them 12yo to dagestan until they're legal to play faceit and forget

2025-04-12 12:48

send 10 years dagestan and forget

This is really interesting and I am happy for the players. They will have a great chance to grow and bring their dreams to reality! But I cant stop thinking that this is farming simulator done right and no different than how it is when it comes to breeding dogs and gainig profit from that. I mean, they will have 20 players they can contract to X amount of years, invest money, time, energy and effort in creating future donks. Imagine having insane future donks! One or two of them might stay in the main team while others will be added to a transfer/selling list for the highest bidder depending on how promising young talent is. This way they will sell player way beyond their former investment and increas in profit. Thats genious! A bonus here is if the players sooner than later can bring in some of that ROI. Again; sorry if sounds harsh, but its no different than a dog breeder :P Business done right, am I right fellas? xD

2025-04-12 13:03

Thinking of that one little kid from kazahkstan playing cs I would say stuff about childhood going outside to play instead, but honestly it's Eastern Europe like I cant blame them staying inside to play cs

Spirit GOAT org ? Helping the younger generation for a healthier scene in the future

2025-04-12 13:05

their academy is the only reason russia is relevant at all since last year before they never had any top 1 player ever and only a single major winning team while having the biggest player base by far, from now other countries are done

2025-04-12 13:06

It doesn't sit right with me that their highest paid players make around 30k$ while they have enough money to sustain 6 rosters just for cs2. I mean, it's Spirit, out of 25 players there will definitely be some players with big potential. It's the money aspect I'm wondering about lol. Maybe donk is still playing under 2023 signed contract, once he re-signes he'll be getting more money, but as it currently stands he probably earns 4 times less than zywoo while his org wants to sign 25 more people, lmao

2025-04-12 13:12

The young players will play basically for free. I was in a football academy and I got paid nothing except free training clothes and shoes.

2025-04-12 14:01

Evil Geniuses

2025-04-12 13:26

Seems based

2025-04-12 13:27

Ehhh... idk about this

2025-04-12 13:42

Why is there so much hostility towards this? The kids would be playing with support of their parents. These are the kids who would be playing CS for long stretches of time with or without spirit having interest in them. Spirit isn't going to keep these kids from going to school or doing anything else its just like playing any sport but its CS. I think its good that spirit is investing in this it will lead to a stronger spirit and CIS scene in general. It also just helps these kids as they were going to be playing CS anyways so they get the ability to grow their skills and go pro. If more teams did something like this any individual national scene that is struggling would be able to grow.

2025-04-12 13:43

Spirit is cooking. They can build some very special know-how as well as set themself up to dominate next couple generations as well as earn some nice buck on the talent they develop.

2025-04-12 13:45

Capitalism kills the joy of everything... sad

2025-04-12 14:00

"soccer"

2025-04-12 14:03

Academy manager Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev said that the project was deliberately modelled on "soccer academies".

2025-04-14 10:41

what the hell is that child trafficing

2025-04-12 14:10

This is how it works in basically every sport

2025-04-12 14:13

FIFA COUNTER STRIKE

2025-04-12 14:25

im in U12!!! Pick me! I was pretty good in 1.6

2025-04-12 14:27

U12 is insane

2025-04-12 15:00

liquid needs to do something like this in NA to revive the region otherwise it's gonna completely die when elige, twistzz and naf retire.

2025-04-12 15:05

>The Serbian organization I Aren't Think That

2025-04-12 15:13

0 serbians in any roster

2025-04-12 16:33

if the org is indeed in serbia and pay taxes in there whats the problem?

2025-04-14 01:20

Close enough, welcome back Evil Geniuses

2025-04-12 15:32

They should build an international team, not only in cis. Russia-speakers too many aimers, but lack tactic.

2025-04-12 15:47

Mate, there are under 12 and under 14 yo rosters. Pick any region in the world and players this young won't know shit about tactic. That's the point of academies, find players who can aim well, have a decent enough gamesense, teach them tactic, utility, communication and build their mental. They're also planning to integrate talented players into the main squad at one point, hence limited to russian-speakers.

2025-04-12 16:58

Team Spirit is a Russian esports organization founded in 2015. THE FUCK HLTV?

2025-04-12 17:33

thats wrong ?

2025-04-12 18:22

Its Russian org not Serbian.

2025-04-12 20:04

EG type management

2025-04-12 17:53

as i remember EG/white/black was run by progressive woman driver im pretty sure this academies would be profitable

2025-04-14 01:18

Damn overdrive going after kids 🤣

"soccer academies as a basis." it is football

2025-04-12 19:28

its neither, its called "people kicking a ball on grass"

2025-04-13 21:07

Russian or Ukrainian dude Dmitrii "Soul3" Bukhteev said that the project was deliberately modelled on "soccer academies". see it's not just americans calling the sport soccer :)

2025-04-14 07:32