The organizers of the European Pro League (EPL) have suspended Russian player Ivan "4IVAN" Moshkovsky, representing the Winter Bear team, from participating in their tournaments.
According to the EPL statement, 4IVAN will not be able to play in the league's tournaments, including the current EPL Season 34. The organizers emphasized that they have evidence of violations of fair play principles and called on major competition organizers to pay attention to the situation and take appropriate measures. Separately, EPL reminded players of the need to adhere to esports ethics and respect their opponents.
The reason for the investigation was the EPL Season 34 match against Ilbirs eSport. The game lasted more than 90 minutes and attracted attention with the strange behavior of 4IVAN, who played as Alchemist. Commentators repeatedly noted that the player ignored obvious actions - did not use Black King Bar and ultimate, disconnected from the game several times, and at one point spent about 26 minutes just standing at the base. Despite this, Winter Bear managed to win the match in a 4v5 format.
The Winter Bear team was allowed to continue playing in the tournament. The team will play its next match on February 9 with a substitute instead of 4IVAN.
Commentator Vladimir "Maelstorm" Kuzminov said that suspicions of a possible fixed match initially arose among the other members of Winter Bear. Later, insider Pulseminds published a screenshot with a bet on Ilbirs' victory for $155,000, clarifying in another post that the total amount of bets could reach $300,000. According to him, the image probably reflects the total amount of all bets on the match. Even this amount is considered abnormally high, since the average total amount of bets per game is usually from $5,000 to $50,000.