After the ban-wave that crippled the North American CSGO scene, Valve turned its attention to Europe, and today handed out bans to 14 pro and semi-pro players for participating in Match-Fixing. As well as the bans, another team has been suspended, pending investigation.

The following players have been banned indefinitely from participating in any Valve run events. This list includes the majority of Ex-Epsilon, Ex-ESC, and the former team ALSEN.

Kevin “Uzzziii” Vernel
Joey “fxy0” Schlosser
Robin “GMX” Stahmer
Morgan  “B1GGY” Madour
Damian “DiAMon” Zarski
Michal “bCK” Lis
Jakub “kub” Pamula
Mateusz “matty” Kolodziejczyk
Michal “michi” Majkowski
Karol “rallen” Rodowicz
Mikolaj “mouz” Karolewski
Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziamalek
Pawel “innocent” Mocek
Jacek “minise” Jeziak

The team 'WinneR' has also been suspended and removed from the ESL One Katowice offline qualifiers pending an investigation from Valve. Taking their place and the one belonging to Ex-Epsilon will be the winners of a last-chance online qualifier on Sunday.

While the bans given to the former Epsilon players (except ScreaM) was expected, the bans to Ex-ESC come as a surprise, especially considering the team announced not too long ago that they have found a new organization that they wil be joining up with. It seems unlikely that the arrangement will be completed now.

In a statement released by Valve, the company urged all players, casters, analysts and managers to stay away from betting on professional matches, as it will be assumed that they have inside information, and may lead to exclusion from future Vlave sponsored events.