After NAVI won the ESL Pro League final with a score of 3:2 on maps against Eternal Fire, a discussion broke out between the coach of the Ukrainian team, Andriy “B1ad3” Gorodensky, and the captain of the Turkish team, Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli. The discussion began after B1ad3 claimed that Turkish fans shouted in Turkish during the match, giving out NAVI positions, which could have affected the course of the game.

READ MORE: B1ad3: Turkish fans helped Eternal Fire

B1ad3's comment about the fans

B1ad3 wrote on its social media page that Turkish fans were sitting just five meters away from Eternal Fire players and repeatedly gave hints during key moments on the Ancient map. He added that even during the decisive moment when jL won the 1v3 clash, the fans started making noise, which prevented MAJ3R from completing the bomb defuse.

"Turkish fans were sitting just 5 meters away from Eternal Fire. During the match, they were shouting in Turkish, giving away our position. People who understand Turkish confirmed this," B1ad3 wrote.

MAJ3R's response

Eternal Fire's captain, MAJ3R, did not stand aside and also responded to the accusations in his post: “We never heard our fans give us information, and you had 30-40 NAVI fans on your side and only 10-15 on ours.”

MAJ3R also expressed regret about the situation on the Ancient map, when he lost a clash due to fan noise. He noted that even his opponent b1t thought he didn't have any cats because they were playing an eco round, but he actually had a cat.

"I lost the clutch because of the fans. It was your fans who were screaming, not the Turkish fans. My 1v1 at Dust2 was also affected by the noise. We could clearly hear in the game when w0nderful was going through the tunnel. Both teams suffered because of the fans' screams."

MAJ3R also drew attention to the fact that the close proximity of fans to players should not be allowed at tournaments of this level: “This experience of fans being so close to the players should be banned."

READ MORE: TMB becomes ECSTATIC's new captain

Concluding thoughts

This incident sparked a lively discussion in the community, where many supported the idea that the close proximity of fans can indeed affect the course of the game. Nevertheless, NAVI won the final with a score of 3:2, and the fan discussion did not change the outcome of the competition.