hally returns to Team Spirit; team to compete at Major without him

Esports organization Team Spirit announced the return of Sergey "hally" Shavaev as head coach of the club's Counter-Strike 2 roster. Dmitry "S0tF1k" Forostyanko will continue to work with the squad. The official statement reads:

After his absence Sergey “hally” Shavaev returns as the head coach and the head of Team Spirit CS2 project. Besides implementing his vision of the game, he will be in charge of strategic planning, keeping track of team dynamics and deciding which tournaments to attend during the competitive season. Sergey will work together with coach Dmitriy “S0tF1k” Forostyanko, who will continue to be with the team, and IGL Boris “magixx” Vorobiev. Such a structure should maximize the strengths of both specialists as well as our players.

The organization also added that the team will compete at IEM Cologne Major 2026 in Cologne without both coaches.

The preparation for the upcoming Major has been successful with this setup, with the coaching duo supposed to debut in Cologne, but unfortunately at the moment both hally and S0tF1k can’t join the team in Germany. Sadly, the latter wasn’t granted a Schengen visa, while the former was urgently hospitalized. We expect Sergey to recover soon and reunite with the team during the later portions of the tournament. Meanwhile, both coaches will help the team online.

Notably, due to health issues, hally missed two tournaments before the Major – IEM Rio 2026 and PGL Astana 2026. S0tF1k temporarily filled his place on the roster; with him, the team took second and first place, respectively, at the aforementioned events.

IEM Cologne Major 2026 will take place from June 2-21, 2026, in Cologne, Germany, with 32 teams competing for a $1.25 million prize pool. Team Spirit has advanced to the second stage of the Major. Detailed information about the competition can be found via the link.

Origin: x.com