The Australian team Renegades refused to participate in ESL Pro League Season 14 due to restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Team officials said rules currently in place in Australia would prevent players from traveling to Europe to compete in the tournament.
Commenting on this decision, Joshua “INS” Renegades' Porter explained that the team is looking forward to competing in the ESEA Premier next season. The players also hope that they will qualify for the major, and that restrictions will no longer be a hindrance by the end of the year.
The fact that Renegades will not be able to take part in the tournament was an unpleasant surprise for its fans, since the team has noticeably improved its results recently. In particular, she was able to qualify for IEM Cologne, defeating OG. The Australians hoped to build on this success after the end of the summer break, but overseas travel rules set by the Australian authorities made traveling to the tournament difficult.
As a replacement, the organizers of the ESL Pro League invited the Russian forZe, since they occupy the next place in the ESL World Ranking after the Australians. Now forZe will enter Group B and will begin its performance at the tournament on August 21-26.
