Filip “NEO” Kubski will be Astralis’ new head coach, sources have revealed to HLTV.
The team parted ways with Casper “ruggah” Due after a disastrous Stage 2 exit at the IEM Cologne Major, and CEO Jonas “calc” Gundersen told Pley.gg that the next coach would be an international hire.
“There’s something about the homogeneous culture of Denmark where I think we were a victim of our own success sometimes,” calc said. “So, we got complacent […] I think we’d like to try a more international performance culture, but still keeping our Nordic roots.”
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ruggah departs Astralis
NEO would join after leaving FaZe in March, having been relieved of his duties as results took a nosedive this year.
While FaZe coach, NEO made it to three Major finals and lifted three trophies at IEM Sydney 2023, CAC 2023, and IEM Chengdu 2024.
The 39-year-old Polish legend’s removal, which came before the invites to the Major were final, came as a surprise to FaZe. “I don’t think, per se, NEO was a problem,” Finn “karrigan” Andersen said at the time. “We as a team have not performed, and everybody is part of the problem.”
NEO will hope to have better luck in Astralis, who are expected to retain their five-man lineup ahead of next season. The team are set to be:
Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen
Love “phzy” Smidebrant Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard Victor “Staehr” Staehr
Gytis “ryu” Glušauskas
Filip “NEO” Kubski (coach)
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HooXi: “When we discuss the rounds outside of the game, everyone knows what’s right to do, but we’re just not doing them in the moment”
