BIG Clan: XANTARES to Miss IEM Sydney, LEGIJA Steps Up

Several rumours were floating around insisting the absence of Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş at IEM Sydney 2019. However, BIG Clan have confirmed these reports and the Turkish star player would not be able to attend due to VISA issues. His VISA is expected to arrive later and the organization further revealed that their coach, Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić, will be fielding in for the Turk.

Nikola has previously played under the BIG tag until February 2018 but later, he went onto becoming coach along with Alexander. On the other hand, the organization did try to field in Owen “smooya” Butterfield. However, his addition conflicted several ESL rules and the organization went ahead with Nikola.

BIG Clan’s roster for IEM Sydney 2019 which will be held from April 30 – May 05 with:

  • Fatih “gob b” Dayik
  • Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz
  • Tizian “tiziaN” Feldbusch
  • Johannes “nex” Maget
  • Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić (stand-in)
  • Alexander “kakafu” Szymanczyk (coach)

BIG Clan is drawn in Group A alongside Liquid, NiP, eUnited, BOOT-d[S], mousesports, MVP PK and Renegades. This event is also a crucial part of Intel Grand Slam and the 2019 edition carries whopping prize pool worth $250,000 USD.

Photo: HLTV