United Kingdom-based esports organization Fnatic has announced that Andreas “Samuelsson” Samuelsson will replace Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson as head coach for their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.
Moving from Team Director, @SamuelssonCSGO now takes the mantle as Head Coach of our CS:GO team.
After 3 years, we say farewell to @Jumpy as his contract comes to an end.
FULL STORY 📰 https://t.co/00Xw2vkB4T pic.twitter.com/uQOzH1cUba
— FNATIC (@FNATIC) September 3, 2019
Samuelsson promoted to Coach
Jumpy joined the organization in August of 2016. Fnatic has since gone on to win 2018’s Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship and the World Electronic Sports Games tournament. However, the results pale in comparison to Fnatic’s results in the years before he joined. In addition, Fnatic did not achieve any substantial results until over a year after Jumpy joined them. Because of this, Fnatic decided to promote Samuelsson to the head coach position instead.
“There’s no secret that we have had significant issues with consistency. Now, I’m looking forward to taking the lead in improving the team and the individuals – aspects extending to both in- and out-of-game – as well working closely with our IGL and mental coach,” wrote Samuelsson on the reveal. “I will begin by focusing on building a performance strategy and a clear structure to achieve our goals. I’m more than dedicated to put in the work required to achieve great success and build a new Fnatic era.”
Samuelsson originally joined the Fnatic organization as a coach for the Academy CSGO team in 2016. He then moved to a Manager position in Fnatic in August of 2017. He did mention that he got along with Jumpy very well, and the two individuals have parted on good terms. The reason for the change is mainly Fnatic’s recent “mixed results” and the “belief that the team needs a new voice in the locker room.”
Fnatic’s future plans
This transition comes after a previous announcement that Richard “Xizt” Landström and Simon “twist” Eliasson had been benched. The two players’ roster change was due to Fnatic not being able to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major. Even with the team’s achievements in early 2019 events, they still only managed to finish with a lackluster 9 – 12th placing at Season 9 of Europe’s ESL Pro League Finals and during ESL One: Cologne.
Fnatic will play in their next event at DreamHack in Malmo between Oct 1-6. The current roster consists of Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, Jesper “JW” Wecksell, and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin. What players will the esports organization pick up to finish their roster? Let us hear your ideas in the comments.
