On July 19, Fnatic announced the academy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, called Fnatic Rising.
Fnatic Rising will be the pillar for young and upcoming talent in the CS:GO scene and will serve as a dynamic roster. The rosters will play throughout the WePlay academy league, which features eight rosters from some of the best teams in the game. Throughout the academy league, the Fnatic Rising roster will rotate between different players. As stated by Fnatic in their initial announcement of the roster, their goal is to provide each player opportunities to grow with skills and find their place in CS:GO esports.
This is not the first time Fnatic offered an academy team to lift young talent in CS:GO. Fnatic first announced their academy team in August of 2016, featuring some players who are still on the team today. That academy roster was released in October of 2018 and has been left untouched during that time. Now, in 2021, Fnatic is bringing back its dream of harboring up-and-coming talent in the scene.
Fnatic Rising face Mousesports in their first match
The team’s debut occurs on July 19 in the opening of the WePlay Academy League Season 1. Additionally, other organizations have created academy rosters. These include Astralis, NAVI, Virtus Pro and more. The first iteration of the Fnatic Rising roster will face Mousesports (mouz NXT) in their first match. On July 20, they must overcome another big name in esports by taking down Virtus Pro’s academy team as well.
As we build towards a new era of Fnatic CS:GO, we're excited to introduce our Season One Fnatic Rising roster:@KevveCS (IGL)
@PeppzorCSGO (Rifle)@regalicsgo (AWP)@prosus_cs (Rifle)
@kstcsgo (Rifle)The team will debut today in the @WePlay_Esports Academy league – at 8PM BST! pic.twitter.com/rDUk4lA9IR
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) July 19, 2021
As the WePlay league progresses, the talent on the roster will as well. Fnatic wants to harbor as much talent in CS:GO as they possibly can. Furthermore, they will add Andreas “Samuelsson” Samuelsson, the former head coach for the main roster, as the Team Director for the project.
“Our goal is to operate under one unified structure across the main roster and this new academy team,” Samuelsson said about Fnatic Rising. “This will allow us to ensure there is a key transfer of knowledge and experience between the two.”
The current Fnatic Rising roster
- Peppe “Peppzor” Borak
- Kevin “Kevve” Bohlin
- Francisco Gonçalo “kst” Viana Fragoso
- David “prosus” Hesse
- Iulian “regali” Harjău
