CSGO team forfeit Major qualifier match because player was asleep
North American semi-pro team Triumph were forced to forfeit their IEM Fall match against Evil Geniuses because one of their players, Jack ‘xCeeD’ Holiman, was asleep when the game was scheduled to start.
Hosted by ESL, IEM Fall is the final Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament of the year across the globe. Teams are duking it out for RMR points in multiple regions for the chance to reachPGL Major Stockholm, the first Counter-Strike Major in over two years.
Triumph had a 1-1 record in their group after beating Team One and losing to FURIA, and they certainly fancied their chances of upsetting the struggling Evil Geniuses. The match was due to be played on Nuke, Triumph’s best map and one of EG’s worst (0-6 record in the last three months).
But much to everyone’s surprise, ESL announced that EG had been awarded a forfeit victory due to Triumph being “unable to field an eligible lineup within the time limit.”
Player sleeps through match
Triumph in-game leader Danny ‘cxzi’ Strzelczyk confirmed on Twittera news report from HLTVabout the team being forced to forfeit their match because xCeeD had slept through the start time of the fixture.
Well guys we got forfeit vs eg because of someone sleeping.
— Danny (@CxziDanny)August 06, 2025
The North American team were already playing with their registered substitute player, Wesley “viz” Harris, to replace Brendan “Bwills” Williams, who was moving, so they were unable to field an eligible lineup for the game.
Triumph, who are currently ranked 69th in the world by HLTV, were unfazed by that setback and, with xCeeD available once more, went on to beat Brazilian side 00Nation 16-11.
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Sorry for the mistake. While the 36% deduction is true, they can still make it to the Major if both EXTREMUM and Furia gain pointshttps://t.co/8ajXmDbZIW
— Liquipedia Counter-Strike (@LiquipediaCS)July 27, 2025
They are now third in Group B, but their qualification hopes now hinge on the results of FURIA and EXTREMUM.
