ALGO release trio over match-fixing and cheating practices

The Ukrainian organization has also reached out to ESIC to "ensure fair punishment for these players."

Ukrainian esports organization ALGO announced on Friday that it has terminated the contracts of Yuri "⁠hodix⁠" Khodak, Ivan "⁠crickeyyy⁠" Havrylov and Dmytro "⁠jackast⁠" Pashchenko. This follows an internal investigation into suspicions raised by the coaching staff of "dishonest play from the players."

During the course of ALGO's investigation, which involved polygraph testing, hodix admitted to engaging in match-fixing, the organization said, adding that the player's polygraph results confirming his involvement in such practices while with the team.

ALGO added that the polygraph tests showed that crickeyyy and jackast had taken "part in match-fixing and used cheats." The latter had also "deliberately underperformed in order to lose official matches while playing under ALGO."

"Such actions directly contradict the values and principles of ALGO," the organization said. "We stand for honesty, transparency, and competitive integrity, and we believe that esports must be built on these foundations.

"The club’s management has made the only possible decision – to terminate the contracts with these players."

The Ukranian organization said that it will appeal to the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) "to ensure fair punishment for these players."

The news comes just one month after ALGO recruited the Ukrainian trio, who brought with them The Glecs's VRS ranking. Their arrivals coincided with the departures of Simon "⁠KWERTZZ⁠" Horák, Milen "⁠milky⁠" Iliev, and Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný.

ALGO currently have:

Žygimantas "⁠nukkye⁠" Chmieliauskas
Christian "⁠Griller⁠" Vejlgaard Skou Sørensen

Oleksandr "⁠Shara⁠" Hordieyev (coach)