For a long time, we at ENCE have wanted to invest in the next generation of Finnish CS:GO. Now, we are proud to announce our plans for a CS:GO Academy Program.
Counter-Strike is in the DNA of ENCE. Thanks to many talented Finnish individuals, ENCE has had the opportunity to become what we are today. Now, we want to invest in and foster the scene to which our roots are tightly tied, by launching a CS:GO Academy Program in the first quarter of 2022.
“Building an academy program has been in our sights for a long time already, hoping to one day produce future talent for our main roster.”
- Niklas “Willkey” Ojalainen, General Manager at ENCE
We have witnessed the potential Finland has within Counter-Strike and esports in general. Unfortunately, the ecosystem where future talent can thrive is still lacking. We are in a privileged position that we want to use to the advantage of the whole scene.
“Last year, as we rebuilt our CS:GO team, we quickly realized that we don’t have the options to build a fully Finnish roster to take us where we needed to be as an ESL Pro League partner team. Building an academy program has been in our sights for a long time already, hoping to one day produce future talent for our main roster. After a successful transition period in 2021 to an international main roster, we are ready to start building the academy program on top of our existing infrastructure.”, says Niklas “Willkey” Ojalainen.
Although the plan has only started to solidify into reality, we are already in the process of recruiting a person to launch and lead the project with the help of ENCE’s existing infrastructure and further additions to the academy program staff. Our aim is to find and guide tomorrow’s superstars to develop not only as players but as people and future professionals. The primary focus will be on Finnish players, but we are also open to academy talents from other European countries in the future.
More details on the academy program will be announced as we get closer to the launch.
