The HLTV portal officially confirmed that the head coach of Team Spirit, Sergey hally Shavaev, will not be able to attend the playoffs of IEM Cologne Major 2026 with the team. The coach will miss the remainder of the tournament while continuing to assist the roster remotely.
It is also reported that the team's second coach, Dmitry S0tF1k Forostyanko, faced issues obtaining a Schengen visa and will not join the team in Cologne. Both specialists will continue to work with the roster in a remote format.
Despite the absence of coaches, Team Spirit confidently completed both group stages with a result of 3:0 and advanced to the playoffs. The informal "coach" of the team at this tournament has become the plush toy Zhab Zhabych, for whom HLTV even created an official profile on the portal.
IEM Cologne Major 2026 is taking place from June 2 to June 21 in Cologne. Recall that earlier chopper suggested that Spirit would play in the playoffs without a coach.
