ENCE remove coach kuben ahead of tournament

ENCE has benched the coach of its CS2 team in advance of ESL Pro League Season 20, which opens next week in Malta.

"The ENCE CS2 team performance hasn't been meeting the level of our expectations and we are now taking steps to get back on track," the team posted to social media on Saturday. "Jakub ‘kuben' Gurczynski has been placed on the bench as we are looking for a new head coach."

The ENCE CS2 team performance hasn't been meeting the level of our expectations and we are now taking steps to get back on track.

Jakub "kuben" Gurczynski has been placed on the bench as we are looking for a new head coach.

Thank you for your time with us, @kuben_tt ??

Read... pic.twitter.com/Cvj4AX0Xua

— ENCE (@ENCE) August 31, 2024

General manager Niklas "Willkey" Ojalainen implied in a team statement that kuben wasn't a good fit with the roster.

"kuben has a clear vision of his craft and playstyle, and unfortunately, we weren't able to align it with ours," Willkey said. "This of course leads us now to seek a new direction, to find someone who sees the game in a similar way as our players want to play it. I personally want to thank kuben for his time with us, and I truly hope he finds the team where his vision can do wonders."

The organization's statement said a "further evaluation" of the team would take place after the upcoming competition.

The coach had been with ENCE since November. A 36-year-old from Poland, kuben previously coached Virtus.pro, Team Envy, MAD Lions and Apeks.

ENCE have dropped outside of the top 20 and failed to qualify for a major this year for the first time since 2018.

The team's roster consists of Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander of Denmark, Ukraine's Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev, Krzysztof "Goofy" Gorski and Kacper "Kylar" Walukiewicz or Poland, and Finland's Paavo "podi" Heiskanen.

--Field Level Media