FC Anji Leaving eSports Industry After Only Four Months

The trend of established professional sports teams becoming part of the eSports industry reached its peak couple of months ago. One of the teams that joined the industry at that time was FC Anji who entered the eSports scene by launching their Dota 2 team. The leader and the brain behind that team was Alexander ‘XBOTC’ Dashkevich who is one of the veteran Dota 2 players.

Unlike many other eSports organization, FC Anji’s Dota 2 did not have many problems with the financial situation as FC Anji is one of the richest soccer teams in Russia. With that kind of background, their Dota 2 had huge expectations that they struggled to fulfill.

Great Expectations

With no problems when it comes to the budget and with the new squad, Cyber Anji officials had great expectations of their new team. However, the results did not fulfill those expectations. Since the very beginning, Cyber Anji was not able to put on performances that would satisfy the management. During the first couple of months, this team participated in the several qualifiers and several minor tournaments. In both, qualifiers and minor tournaments, Cyber Anji was not able to have any significant results which were one of the reasons why XBOCT decided to leave the team. The team brought Vadim ‘Sedoy’ Musorin to replace XBOCT. However,  this also did not prove to be successful as they continued with their bad performances.

The lack of good results might not be the problem if the team displayed good desire and effort in their matches. However, during all those matches, it seemed that the players have been struggling with motivation. Like many other teams from all parts of the world, the motivation is the key to success as well as to damnation.

The International 7

Another opportunity for Cyber Anji came when they received the direct invite for regional qualifiers for The International 7. The fact that they received one of the direct invites in CIS region was a surprise to everyone because many believed that they have not deserved that invite with the type of performances that they have been putting on.

In a way, Dota 2 community was right, and the qualifiers  when they competed in the group stage. Just like it was the case with their previous performances, Cyber Anji was able to win in only three matches while they were defeated in six in the group stage. Consequently, the eighth place that they finished in was not enough to move to the next round of the qualifiers which meant that they were eliminated from the competition.

Final Farewell

Just few days after the end of those qualifiers, players announced they will no longer be playing for FC Anji. They will be sticking together as a team except, Maxim ‘yoky-‘ Kim who seems to be ending his career. Furthermore,  the reason Anji left was actually the lack of payment from the team.

Players announced that they did not get a single salary since they joined the team. That became too much for them to take any more, so they decided to leave. FC Anji followed that statement with their own saying they will be ending their eSports efforts all in all. They wanted to make an impact in the industry but now they realized it won’t be happening. Because of that, they are stepping down from eSports industry.