The esports organisation Team Falcons has made an official statement urging the organisers of PGL Wallachia Season 2 to disqualify AVULUS captain Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev following an incident involving Jordanian player Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf. The team threatened to withdraw from the tournament if action was not taken.
"Today at PGL Wallachia 2024 Season 2, a serious incident occurred involving SoNNeikO from AVULUS, who targeted our player ATF before the match.
While the teams were waiting at the hotel, SoNNeikO approached ATF, grabbed him by the shoulders, and began making physical threats. The threats escalated into a blatant physical altercation when SoNNeikO demanded that ATF leave the hotel with him to fight.
The situation became so severe that the manager of AVULUS requested that the conflict be stopped. This request was ignored, and team managers had to intervene and separate SoNNeikO from ATF.
The entire incident was witnessed by PGL staff and administrators.
We are deeply disappointed by PGL's decision to impose a penalty on AVULUS in the form of deducted bonus time during drafts in light of such a serious incident, and we are concerned about the safety of our players at the tournament. While we appreciate that PGL has provided security for our team, we will not tolerate threats of physical violence directed at our players.
We must ensure a complete rejection of such behaviour. The safety of players should always come first, and we call on PGL to take stricter measures against the involved player by disqualifying him from the tournament. Until this happens, Team Falcons will decide whether to continue our participation in the championship.
For us at Team Falcons, nothing is more important than the safety of our players and staff. This should not be an issue for tournament organisers."
PGL Wallachia Season 2 takes place from October 4 to 13, 2024, at the PGL studio in Bucharest, Romania. The event has a prize pool of one million US dollars, to be shared among 16 teams.