fnatic Academy withdraw from ESEA Premier playoffs

fnatic Academy have pulled out of the ESEA Premier playoffs, HLTV.org has learned.

The Swedish team had been due to clash with Kinguin in the quarter-finals but have decided to forfeit the match due to the tournament's roster lock.

The news is bound to heighten speculation about the future of fnatic's main team, who have been heavily linked with roster changes since PGL Major Krakow.

Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim's squad recently attended the Europe Minor as Ballistix after PGL ruled that academy teams should have a different "nametag and logo" to differentiate themselves from their organisations' main rosters.

Golden & co withdraw from ESEA Premier playoffs

After taking down Envy in their opening match, fnatic Academy were sent to the group's Lower Bracket by BIG, with a 2-0 defeat against Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer's men eventually sealing their fate in the tournament.

Kinguin will advance straight to the ESEA Premier semi-finals, in which they will face the winner of the match between Epsilon and FlipSid3.

Below you can find the match-ups for remaining quarter-final encounters, scheduled for August 15:

Epsilon	vs.	FlipSid3
Space Soldiers	vs.	North Academy
VITALIS	vs.	Nexus

Epsilon #40 André 'BARBARR' MöllerLasse 'maeVe' ElgaardCosmin-Mihai 'cosmeeeN' ButucFredrik 'freddieb' BuöOwen 'smooya' Butterfield Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Age: 25 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1059 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Maikil 'Golden' Selim Age: 23 Team: fnatic Academy Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 160 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Nexus #59 Cătălin-Ionuț 'BTN' StănescuCostin 'jaxi' VrînceanuAdrian 'XELLOW' GuțăCristian 'sXe' NițăAndrei 'TheOne' Zamfira VITALIS #42 Jani 'Aerial' JussilaTony 'arvid' NiemeläVerneri 'BONA' JunkalaJoonas 'aune' RantalaOtto 'ottoNd' Sihvo BIG #12 Fatih 'gob b' DayikNikola 'LEGIJA' NinićJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKevin 'keev' BartholomäusJohannes 'nex' Maget fnatic Academy #33 Maikil 'Golden' SelimDavid 'Jayzwalkingz' KempnerNiclas 'PlesseN' PlessenLinus 'Bååten' AnderssonAlex 'Karus' Saglamoglu Space Soldiers #24 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor North Academy #41 Nicolai 'glace' JensenFrederik 'LOMME' NielsenNicklas 'gade' GadeDaniel 'mertz' MertzFrederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand FlipSid3 #20 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyGeorgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinJan 'wayLander' RahkonenDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Envy #16 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaCédric 'RpK' GuipouyAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerAlexandre 'xms' Forté Kinguin #32 Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekKarol 'rallen' RodowiczMichał 'MICHU' MüllerBartosz 'Hyper' WolnyMikołaj 'mouz' Karolewski