Team Empire Disqualified From Apex Legends Global Series Championship

The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Championship is set to kick off on 7th July but there were some last-minute changes which disappointed the community. The tournament organizer (PGL) and Team Empire were unable to acquire visas for the team after all three members of the squad were denied entry to the US.

With Team Empire being based in Russia, Kirill “RANCHES” Rulinwere, Denis “cleaveee” Rassokhin, and Alexey “Maliwan” Rusinov were all denied visas to enter the United States. Team Empire has been disqualified and a different team will be taking its place.

AYM Esports will replace Team Empire at the ALGS Championship

The format of the upcoming ALGS championship involved 40 teams and both fans and players were concerned about how EA would handle the issue.

Flora Esports was the team that would have received direct entry into the event based on the team’s playoffs points from the regular season. However, it would be impossible for the team to acquire visas on such short notice especially with one of its players being from Russia.

Many had speculated that EA would have to include Sentinels in the event as it is the highest-ranking North American team that did not qualify for the event. But it will be AYM Esports that will replace Team Empire. Svyatoslav “ojrein” Korochinsky, who is a Russian player for AYM will not be allowed to compete. But the team has already found Element 6 content creator Nils “Gerovic12” Bode as a replacement.

AYM was contacted as a possible replacement by the tournament organizers and the players had pre-emptively applied for visas. AYM is an Europe-based esports organization that is owned by Aymeric Laporte who is a soccer player for the Spanish national team and Manchester City. The esports organization was founded in 2021 and the ALGS championship will be a great opportunity for the players to showcase their skill at the biggest event Apex Legends esports has ever seen.