Copenhagen Flames coach: money is not the main motivation for our players

Recently, the mentor of the Copenhagen Flames CS:GO roster Daniel Vorborg gave an interview for the dust2us portal, in which he spoke about the players' plans for the near future.

In his opinion, the successful performance of the team at PGL Major Antwerp 2022 increases the chances of the roster moving to another club and being sold by the management of Copenhagen Flames:

Right now, the roster members are at a point in their careers where they realize they won't always be playing for the Copenhagen Flames.

The coach does not exclude the possibility of a fork in the paths of the players in different places:

Obviously, they are considering [thepossibilityofleavingforanotherclub] both as a whole team and individually

Daniel Vorborg reports that Copenhagen Flames had the opportunity to sell the CS:GO roster for a long time and negotiations with all potential buyers were moving quite far:

When the public became aware of a possible deal with Complexity, we had been negotiating for about two months <...>. Complexity wasn't the only organization interested in our roster. We had a lot of potential buyers with whom we were pretty far advanced in negotiations, as well as several clubs that our players had contact with.

According to Vorborg, it was important for the management to keep all esportsmen playing together even after they moved to another organization. Over time, this position was revised:

The main goal was always to try and find a place for them to go together, but over time we agreed that the players would start considering individual offers

It is noteworthy that, according to Daniel, money is not the main motivation for players playing under the Copenhagen Flames tag. Some of them received very solid offers from clubs with big salaries, but they did not accept them:

Knowing what offers our players had, I can say that money is not the main motivation for them. Some roster members got really big salary offers but turned them down.

RoeJ, for example, is 28 years old, so of course he would like to buy a house, maybe have a baby at some point or something, and obviously it needs money. So the financial aspect plays a role, but even he has turned down some serious high-salary offers because he wants to join a team that he thinks he would be better off with.

The team's buyout amount was not as large as the media had previously assumed. The team coach is surprised that no one wants to buy a roster at this price:

Perhaps when this saga is over, I will name the amount we asked for the transfer of the team. The media called the numbers, but we asked for much less than that, but people still refused to buy a team, which amazes me.

PGL Major Antwerp 2022 could be the last tournament in which Copenhagen Flames play with this roster. According to Daniel, not all members of the team have contracts with a long term. Some of them even refused to renew the agreement with the management:

We offered all the players to extend the contracts, some players agreed, some did not. We have publicly stated that Jabbi has extended their contracts, but some players will be out of contracts soon and others will have longer contracts. There will probably be more news about this after the Major. Basically we have always told the players that if they feel like they have a good offer, then we will be accommodating. We have also demanded on several occasions less money than they are worth to buy, so we are proud to be a club that treats its players right.

Vorborg admitted that the management of Copenhagen Flames did not expect participation in two Major tournaments in one year and considers this a great success for the team. However, he once again emphasized the club's willingness to compromise in the negotiation process:

We never thought that in 12 months we would be able to play two majors at once. It is important for us to make sure that the players are happy with us, and in the future they can find the right organization for themselves. Obviously we won't give them away for free if we have long-term contracts, but I would say that we are very accommodating when it comes to discussing transfers.

Recall that at the end of 2021, Copenhagen Flames could sell their CS:GO roster. Insiders and media speculated that the CPH Flames were asking for a roster ranging between $500,000 and $750,000. Complexity Gaming were considered the main contenders for the purchase of the roster, but on December 23 it became known that the team would continue playing under the Copenhagen Flames tag.

Now CPH Flames are playing in the ongoing Major CS:GO tournament, PGL Major Antwerp 2022. The team started their journey at The Legends Stage and took 6th place in the group stage table, which allowed them to reach The Champions Stage and be among the top eight. In the next confrontation, they will come face to face with the Europeans from ENCE. The losing participant of the match will take 5th-8th place in the standings and receive $35,000. The winner of the duel will secure the 3rd-4th line in the standings and a reward of $70,000 and will advance to the semi-finals, where they will fight against the winner of the Heroic vs Natus Vincere match.

Current CPH Flames roster

• Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen
• Jacob 'Jabbi' Nygard
• Fredrik 'roeJ' Jorgensen
• Niko 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi
• Rasmus 'Zyphon' Nordfoss