At the IEM Cologne Major 2026, Team Spirit was left without coaches: Sergey "hally" Shavaev was hospitalized, and Dmitry "S0tF1k" Forostyanko did not receive a visa. Both specialists are helping the team remotely, and an unexpected "stand-in" took the place behind the players in the gaming area – a plush frog named Zhab Zhabych, which was shown by donk.
before the match against BetBoom Team. The mascot quickly became a meme and the hero of the tournament. With Zhab Zhabych in the coaching slot, Team Spirit passed Stage 2 with a hundred percent win rate, defeating BetBoom Team, MIBR, and 9z Team, and advanced to Stage 3. Team member Boris "magixx" Vorobyov jokingly praised the "coach" for his useful timeouts, and the ESL broadcast specifically noted his "contribution" to the victory.
Against the backdrop of success, calls appeared in the CS2 community for HLTV – fans asked the portal to create a separate coach page for Zhab Zhabych, like those for real scene specialists.
