b0RUP and birdfromsky part ways with kONO, accusing club of unpaid wages

Danish players Thomas "birdfromsky" Due-Frederiksen and Johannes "b0RUP" Borup announced their departure from kONO. According to the players, the Ukrainian esports organization owes them four months' wages.

b0RUP explained that kONO paused its Counter-Strike 2 roster in December while the organization assessed its next steps amid the uncertainty surrounding Arseniy "cptkurtka023" Derevinskiy. According to Borup, the club promised that if the Ukrainian player moved to another squad, the team would find a replacement; otherwise, the two Danes would be benched, while the team would switch to an all-Ukrainian roster. Ultimately, cptkurtka023 joined Inner Circle in January, but a replacement was never signed, despite the fact that Audric "JACKZ" Jug started playing for kONO as a stand-in.

In December, the owner suggested terminating the contract immediately and paying out the remaining salary. I told him this would be acceptable, as it would amount to four months of full salary. During this discussion, it became clear that he believed players automatically receive half salary while benched, even if the contract does not state that. Our contract did not contain such a clause.

During this period, there were also statements suggesting that the organization might declare bankruptcy and therefore would not pay anything regardless of the outcome. We attempted to find a compromise and even proposed accepting 50% of the owed amount, as Bird needed the money for daily living expenses. However, this proposal was not accepted.

b0RUP also confirmed that Keoz was facing the same issue. On January 18, the Belgian esports athlete reported that he had not received his salary for December, while his attempts to resolve the matter privately were unsuccessful. Furthermore, Keoz, who did not play in kONO's final match on March 5, claimed he had been subjected to "pressure, threats, and attempts to discredit me".

According to b0RUP, the organization offered him and birdfromsky 60% of the debt if they posted on social media "that an agreement had been reached and that keoz’s public statements about the situation were incorrect".

The Ukrainian club has not yet commented on the accusations made by the two Danes. On January 19, kONO CEO Oleh Shustenko stated that Keoz's claims of unpaid salaries were "untrue" and that the organization was fulfilling its obligations to everyone.

JACKZ, a member of the squad, announced that the team would continue to perform together under a temporary tag with the following starting five:

Thomas "⁠birdfromsky⁠" Due-Frederiksen
Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup
Denys "⁠Burmylov⁠" Buraga
Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug
Jonas "⁠Queenix⁠" Dideriksen

Origin: x.com