ESL to reinstate dope tests at CSGO events

CS:GO tournaments will soon have doping tests again after ESL announced their comeback. The esports league stopped doing them three years ago due to the pandemic.

The news came after Cloud9 nafany tweeted that he never had a doping test at any LAN event. Ulrich Schulze, senior vice president of game ecosystems at ESL FACEIT Group, replied that they are working on bringing them back as soon as possible.

Doping tests were common before COVID-19, especially for teams that reached the arena stage of big tournaments. They were meant to prevent players from using illegal substances or supplements to boost their performance.

We did doping tests at our events frequently all the way up to early 2020, and we are going to continue doing it – we simply had to get the infrastructure back up after the Covid period impacted both staff and facilities EISC had previously used for this.

-Ulrich Schulze (@theflyingdj)

However, during the online era of CS:GO, doping tests became less frequent or even nonexistent. Some players like Astralis’ blameF or ex-mOUZ’s Bymas said they did them during IEM Cologne 2022 playoffs, but others like nafany claimed they never experienced them.

ESL wants to change that and ensure fair play at their events. The league is currently hosting ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta, where doping tests could return for the playoffs.

Doping tests are important for esports integrity and professionalism. ESL was one of the first leagues to introduce them in 2015 after a Cloud9 player admitted using adderall during a tournament. Since then, ESL has been committed to fighting drug abuse in esports.