In a recent announcement, Sprout has confirmed the departure of Australian in-game leader Aaron “AZR” Ward after a brief 45-day tenure. The European squad and AZR struggled to find success together, as evidenced by their inability to progress through the BLAST Paris Major Europe RMR A just over a week ago.
AZR joined the team during a tumultuous period when Sprout sought a suitable replacement for Ismail “refrezh” Ali, who had stepped down as leader. Initially, they tested Mikkel “Maze” Sparvath in place of Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss before returning Zyphon to the main roster, benching refrezh, and having coach Danny “BERRY” Krüger represent them at the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals.
The team, led by AZR, achieved a 6-10 match record during their time together, with their only win against a top 50 team being Apeks in early March. They failed to qualify for multiple events, including ESL Challenger Melbourne, IEM Dallas, and BLAST Spring Showdown. They also placed joint-last in BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic and couldn’t make it through the BLAST Paris Major RMR.
AZR shared his perspective on the team’s struggles in a TwitLonger post, stating, “It was clear early on that it just wasn’t a good fit with roles clashing and not having the same vision for the IGL to take and create space for the team.”
Sprout will now trial new IGLs in both official and practice games, which may result in frequent player rotations. Daniel Paulus, Sprout’s CS:GO manager, expressed the challenges of making roster decisions in the fast-paced esports world.
In addition to the roster changes, Sprout announced plans to establish a CS:GO academy team this summer. BERRY expressed excitement about the project, seeing it as a valuable addition to the organization rather than a separate entity.
The current Sprout roster includes:
- Denmark Victor “Staehr” Staehr
- Romania Laurențiu “lauNX” Țârlea
- Denmark Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss
- Romania Adrian “XELLOW” Guță
- Denmark Danny “BERRY” Krüger (coach)
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