BIG announce return of academy team

2-7-2025 21:04

The new youth roster features a mix of German and other European players.

prosus is back to activity in BIG Academy's new roster

BIG has announced the return of BIG Academy, its youth division, which was discontinued in early 2024. This time around, however, it comes with a twist, as the German core will have two foreign players alongside it.

At the helm of the project is Sebastian "⁠xenn⁠" Hoch, BIG's interim coach since the departure of Alexander "⁠kakafu⁠" Szymanczyk, who will now return to the position of assistant coach while also taking over responsibilities in youth development and the academy team.

The biggest name in the new roster is David "⁠prosus⁠" Hesse, who returns to BIG Academy after spending nearly three years in the academy, from September 2021 to June 2023, before jumping to the main team. The 22-year-old has been on BIG's bench since July 2024, and will make his return with the youth squad.

The new team will be led by 26-year-old Lukas "⁠FreeZe⁠" Hegmann, a former teammate of xenn's in ALTERNATE aTTaX and one of the pilars in the new BIG Academy. The youngest of the three Germans is 18-year-old Phillip "⁠w1dow⁠" Hemke, who also spent time in ALTERNATE aTTaX under FreeZe.

The foreign contingent is made up of two unproven players, Egzon "⁠xonn1k⁠" Behluli and Dmytro "NaYz" Khylchuk, the former with only four maps on HLTV to his name and the latter with none.

"We at BIG are rebuilding our CS2 Academy — a project with a rich tradition that has significantly contributed to our success in the past," says BIG's CGO, Roman "⁠Roman R.⁠" Reinhardt. "The Academy has always been a cornerstone of our Counter-Strike philosophy and will take on an even more central role in our strategic direction going forward. Our ambition is not just to discover talent, but to train and develop it sustainably ourselves."

The BIG Academy project will be central in the German organization's plans of building a pipeline of players ready to make the jump to Tier 1. "The new Academy is not a side project for us — it is a fundamental part of our future strategy," Reinhardt adds. "We are making targeted investments to build structures that foster talent, challenge them, and guide them to the world stage. This is BIG in the best sense — and it all starts right here."

This concept is not new, as BIG Academy served as a direct pipeline to the main team in the past, with players like Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn and Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa having made the jump from the youth squad to the main team.

BIG Academy will be playing FORZE Reload in European Pro League Season 26 on July 3 at 12:30 .

Date	Matches
European Pro League Season 26
03/07/2025	FORZE Reload 12:30 BIG Academy	Match

BIG Academy is:

Lukas "⁠FreeZe⁠" Hegmann
David "⁠prosus⁠" Hesse
Phillip "⁠w1dow⁠" Hemke
Egzon "⁠xonn1k⁠" Behluli
Dmytro "NaYz" Khylchuk

They should announce a better main team first.

2025-07-02 21:05

219

8 replies

26yo academy player

2025-07-02 22:02

4 replies

Honestly nothing wrong with that inherently, but since he's not improved in like 5 years it makes no sense.

2025-07-02 22:54

3 replies

I suppose the point isn't for him to improve, but to help the others improve. BIG is gonna need a new IGL soon tho.... maybe it will be krimbo but who knows.

2025-07-02 23:01

2 replies

-tabsen, +freeze, let this happen

2025-07-03 09:35

I don't wanna learn from a hard stuck player. If thats the case, give Tizian a call. Or Nex.

2025-07-04 17:53

Nearly impossible with 5 jermans

2025-07-02 22:18

Thought that was their academy team.

2025-07-02 22:40

This is the best german team that could exist rn. If it doesn't work, they'll have to go international and they will. So this is their last shot as a pure german team.

2025-07-03 10:52

widow @marc7708

7 replies

w1dow is good he looks like magixx prosus should be on main Team FreeZe is 2nd best jerman IGL rn lmao And what i saw so far from NaYz and xonn1k is decent xenn will be Coach of the Academy and Assistant Coach of the Main Team, so they will need another Coach for BIG Would have loved to see Askan as an AWPer And Clarii ofc

2025-07-02 21:17

6 replies

Scrunk gonna join the Main Team as Headcoach

2025-07-02 21:26

-prosus +kyubii was the biggest disaapointement in german history

2025-07-02 21:52

1 reply

It was -rigoN +kyuubii, but yea kicking prosus wasnt smart

2025-07-02 21:58

They should have given krystal the job. Maybe he declined but he is the best free coach option on German market.

2025-07-03 00:24

1. s1n 2. freeze 3. tabsen yes?

2025-07-03 09:36

yes, maybe put tabseN a little bit lower, cuz he should go retire or Coach

2025-07-03 09:47

that's good, these guys can be decent in the future tbh

2025-07-02 21:06

#FREEPROSUS

26yo talent FreeZe

tabsen your time as IGL is up already

2025-07-02 21:09

noway they signed magixx

Academy lineup is more International than main roster.

2025-07-02 21:07

running 2 academy teams at the same time is crazy

mouz has been doing that for years

2025-07-02 23:31

At least mouz's main roster can actually make it far in international tournaments,

2025-07-03 02:28

Scrunk will be the new head coach btw

2025-07-02 21:10

5 replies

So is strategic Coach something different than Head Coach? Anyways ScrunK as Head Coach is good

2025-07-02 21:18

For main team? If yes, good decision.

2025-07-02 21:19

in the leaks i saw it said hes the new coach i think if he coaches a team it has to be as the main coach he always made teams better as a igl but never had the best players with him to make it into tier 1

2025-07-02 21:30

He coached the Academy in Exort Series 13 so idk, i still dont understand if xenn is now Head Coach of Academy or just Strategic Coach, he defo is Co-Coach for BIG now ScrunK as Coach for Main Team could be good

2025-07-02 21:38

I dont think Scrunk would stop playing to coach a academy team tbh + they said in their stream things will change so it has to be him being the main coach i guess

how will this affect tabsen's legacy?

2025-07-02 21:13

They would win against main team

doesn't mean much these days

2025-07-02 23:37

26yo young telent kek

2025-07-02 21:16

Jawoll ja!

why not"big announce disband of their main roster"

2 recycled washed german players, 3 unproven players. BIG is back!

2025-07-02 21:20

prosus isnt washed wtf FreeZe never had a chance to proove himself (except aTTaX ofc) w1dow is biggest german Talent rn

2025-07-02 21:22

hltv.org/stats/players/matches/19284/pro.. hltv.org/stats/players/matches/20122/fre.. Vs Tier3 And w1dow will be the next prosus. But I guess your standards are not that high if your starplayers are Krimbo or Tabsen who average a 1.00 rating or below lately

prosus had to play the biggest bitch roles under tabseN, same goes for rigoN and kyuubii, no shit he cant perform, prosus is still young and sharp FreeZe is the fucking IGL and already better than tabseN without even playing a game in Tier 1 w1dow gonna perform really good

2025-07-02 21:35

two weeks until they take over the main roster in vrs ranking

2025-07-02 21:23

xonn1k > zont1x

Not good, but also at least not worse than the main roster.

2025-07-02 21:31

Freeze > Tabsen

2025-07-02 21:33

prosus and freeze XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

2025-07-02 21:37

It's great to see such a 26 yo talent like FreeZe @ BIG Academy, who has played only 851 maps with rating 0.89. I hope he can play for another 10 years @ BIG Academy.

2025-07-02 21:48

26 year old academy member:D

2025-07-02 21:49

Lmao. Putting them in a org that willingly employs Tabsen as an IGL. Poor kids. Hopefully after this fails they recover

2025-07-02 21:50

I thought their current squad was their academy team?

why are there no turks?

2025-07-02 21:51

poor prosus

2025-07-02 22:00

Büffel auch noch unterwegs, mega

2025-07-02 22:07

they should have picked up xelex

🚨 Prosus back 🚨 prosus back 🚨 JERMAN SCENE SAVED

2025-07-02 22:10

Where are they getting this money from bro like what?

2025-07-02 22:26

w1dow W prosus W but would have hoped he gets picked up elsewhere freeZe W lets so how the two rookies do

2025-07-02 22:31

The 26-year-old "prodigy" and 22-year-old "back for the 5th time" legend

2025-07-02 22:37

i watched they playing in exort series, prosus is carrying really hard. w1dow mid player xonn1k and nayz interesting, w/ the righ coach/igl they can become good players

2025-07-02 22:53

feel bad for prosus honestly. 3 years on the *same* academy so far and now returning to it after spending a year on the bench of the main team is craaaaaazy, like this guy couldn't even find a better team after all these years being "developed" by BIG and after having plenty of time to be called up while on the bench. wtf is wrong with german cs man

2025-07-02 23:02

Brazil recycle old sk players still today but judge German Cs scene Omegalul

2025-07-03 00:28

ik it's fun to hate on brazil and all but damn, at least keep it coherent lol i shouldn't even bother (it's insane to suggest brazilian cs is as washed as german cs), but, anyway, i'll bite. here's the Major and Major playoffs player distribution by nationality: freeimage.host/i/Fa91RZQ can you tell me how many brazilians attended the last Major? what about the playoffs? see any germans there? "omegalul" on a more serious note: brazilian cs is in a difficult-to-read, mid-term state. could be a lot better, but also could be a lot worse (just look at sweden, denmark or even fucking jermany for a minute lol). yes, brazil's talent pool renovation still lags behind for the country to reach the top again but to try and compare it to the state of poor german cs is not even funny at this point (26yo academy talent kkkkkkkkkkkkk)

2025-07-03 01:10

First step of going international

2025-07-02 23:05

happy to see prosus back in action after BIG kept him in contract hell for nearly A FULL YEAR

2025-07-02 23:08

Should've announced the end of the org as a whole

2025-07-02 23:42

bro, even your main team is worse than some academy teams

2025-07-02 23:46

so he is a junior again..? alright what a BIG joke.. xd

2025-07-02 23:47

26 yr old academy player ? xaxaxxaxaxaxaxaaxxa

2025-07-03 00:22

Whats the point in making an internationl academy team for a national team? I swear big is such a waste of time. One of the most incompetent orgs in recent cs history. Krimbo shouldve left when he had the chance

2025-07-03 00:25

BIG W

2025-07-03 00:35

where syrsoN?

2025-07-03 06:27

26 yo academy talent wtf

2025-07-03 09:03

prosus in BIG Academy from 2021, not even IGL, just why have him when he has no future? 26 years old IGL, with no real experiences outside of T3-4 events... BIGs management of main team is bad, but they are not event trying to make proper academy team.

2025-07-03 10:25