Virtus.pro will not participate in IEM Dallas 2023, and instead, Fnatic will compete in the championship in their place. This information was announced on the championship organizer's Twitter account.
#IEM Dallas update 2:
— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) May 17, 2023
Due to @virtuspro being unable to attend the event, the next eligible team @FNATIC will be replacing them after finishing 4th in the European closed qualifier. pic.twitter.com/s301hhrGGa
The message does not specify the reason why the Russian team cannot participate in IEM Dallas 2023. However, speculations arose within the community that the players simply couldn't obtain visas. Since four players from Virtus.pro, except for Alexey Qikert Golubev, hold Russian citizenship, it is uncertain which players encountered visa issues.
The community assumes that all four players were denied visas.
Since February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, the United States of America began deporting Russians from their territories and also made visa acquisition more difficult for Russian citizens.
It is worth noting that the Danish organization OG, which includes a Russian player, sniper Abdul degster Gasanov, also faced the same problem. He will be replaced by former Copenhagen Flames member Lulian regali Harjya.
The IEM Dallas 2023 tournament will take place in the United States from May 29 to June 4. A total of 16 teams, including G2 Esports, Heroic, FaZe Clan, and Cloud9, will compete for a prize pool of $250,000.
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