At the Major in Copenhagen, it was forbidden to say the word 'russia' - Richard Lewis

In March of this year Romanian esports tournament organiser PGL ran the latest instalment in the Counter-Strike Majors in Copenhagen. It was Denmark’s first event of its kind and surprisingly was not run by the Danish company BLAST. Still, it represented a continuance of Denmark’s long history as a hub for esports having historically fostered a positive and accepting culture around what is still seen in many other countries as niche. As is to be expected then the Danish government had taken a great interest in the event but not the kind you might expect. Rather than focusing on the prestige and pomp of the tournament itself, what it meant for the development of Danish esports and the ever-growing fanbase in the country, it seemed they were more interested in creating a very public stink about the attendance of russian participants.

"As long as Russia continues its illegal war on Ukraine, I don't think russian athletes should be allowed to compete in international sports," Jakob Engel-Schmidt, the Danish Minister for Culture said in an interview with Danish outlet Berlingske "That of course includes E-sports.”

"Even though it is a Romanian tournament organizer, I want to encourage them to ban russian participation," Engel-Schmidt continued. "I also want to heavily encourage Royal Arena to be more critical when deciding what they want to host.”

While this was the public statement on the matter behind the scenes things were a lot more severe. The Danish government had contacted PGL and made several “requests” of the Major broadcast which all amounted to nothing that could be construed as political messaging about Russia being used on the broadcast. This translated to decisions not to use international flags for the competing teams and on-air talent not using the word “Russia” on broadcast… No, it was safer to avoid the whole mess since, as we’ll get to, the Danish government were potentially incentivised to shut the event down under even the flimsiest pretext.

Despite all the restrictions, three russian teams participated in the tournament, namely Cloud9 (5-8th place), Team Spirit (5-8th place), and Virtus.pro (9-11th place). However, despite the participation of a large number of russians, the center of attention was on the Ukrainian organization Natus Vincere, who managed to win the tournament, securing $500,000 in prize money.

Distribution of the prize fund for PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024:

• 1st place: Natus Vincere - $500,000; invite to BLAST Premier World Final 2024
• 2nd place: FaZe Clan - $170,000
• 3-4th place: Team Vitality; G2 Esports - $80,000
• 5-8nd place: Team Spirit; Cloud9; Eternal Fire; MOUZ - $20,000
• 9-11th place: Complexity; Virtus.pro; paiN - $20,000
• 12-14th place: Imperial; ECSTATIC; HEROIC - $20,000
• 15-16th place: TheMongolz; FURIA - $20,000

PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 is a premier Counter-Strike 2 tournament taking place in Denmark. The event will feature 16 of the best teams in the world competing for a total prize pool of $1,250,000. The winning team will also receive an invitation to the BLAST Premier World Final 2024. The tournament is scheduled to take place from March 21st to March 31st.