Legacy coach Alan “adr” Riveros has been disqualified from IEM Cologne Major 2026 after repeatedly violating the rules. Earlier, the coach had reacted emotionally during matches, which was interpreted as potentially helping his team.
Tournament organizers and Valve continue to tighten control over coaches’ behavior during matches. The reason is concern that excessive gesturing or repeated signals could be used as hidden cues for the team in live play. According to their information, the team’s coach was removed because of a prohibited signal in the form of a thumbs-up, which was viewed as a potential way of passing additional information to players.
Due to this repeated violation, adrrr received a full disqualification, and Legacy will be forced to continue their run at the tournament without their coach.
The situation once again highlights the strict Major rules regarding coaching and any form of unauthorized interaction with players during active play. This is not the first such case at this Major. Earlier, Monte coach Alexander “kakafu” Szymanczyk received a warning for similar actions, which were also linked to the possible use of gestures as a communication tool during rounds.
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