Representatives from Virtus.pro, Rogue and 10 other CS:GO teams are protesting the direct invites for the European Minor Championship hosted by PGL, according to a joint statement from the teams released Thursday.

The crux of the protest does not stem from which teams were invited themselves, but from the fact that teams were directly invited to the EU Minor in the first place.

"A core value when it comes to CS:GO Majors and qualifiers is that all teams should have an equal chance," said the teams in their statement. "There have never in the history of CS:GO Minor events been any direct invitations. Remember that the challenger teams already have a long way to go to get to the Major, starting from online qualifications, followed by the Minor events and finishing with the main Major qualifier.

"Inviting four teams to an eight team Minor, and forcing all the other teams to compete against one another does not seem fair."

On Oct. 10, PGL announced that they were going to host the EU Minor for the ELEAGUE Major and that Fnatic, Heroic, HellRaisers and Space Soldiers were direct invites. This is the first time the EU Minor featured direct invites since the Minor system was introduced on Dec. 9, 2015, though the Americas, Asia and CIS Minors have all previously had direct invites, despite the team's statement erroneously saying otherwise.

According to the teams, the problem with the direct invites in the Minor is that there is no definitive ranking system for CS:GO and that the most fair system would be a qualifier for all slots.

"Alternatively, if e.g. the HLTV.org ranking were to be used, it should be made clear to all teams, so they would know of a way to make their qualification route for the Major easier in advance," the teams said in their statement. "All teams should qualify on the same conditions. A closed online qualifier with seeded teams based on actual team ranking could be an agreed solution, but that is far away from the current system we perceive as unfair."

The protest is signed by the following representatives:

Jakub " Kuben " Gurczyński, Virtus.pro

" Gurczyński, Stephan Barth, ALTERNATE aTTaX

Dimitar Slavkov, Bpro Gaming

Mattias Rosbäck, Crowns Esports Club

Tomi Kovanen, ENCE eSports

Christian Lindberg, Epsilon eSports

Nemanja Boskovic, Guerilla Method eSports

Slaava Räsänen, iGame.com

Andreas Pullitzky, PENTA Sports

Hampus Johansson, Rogue

Jaroslaw Smietana, Team Kinguin

Nicolai Petersen, Tricked-esport

"I personally think this is an initiative that had to be made. There have never been invites for the EU Minors before and I don't see why it would start now? It's after all the most competitive one," Rogue manager Hampus Johansson said in a statement to theScore esports.

"Majors should be, and have been in the past, about showing what teams are the actual best teams. Why should teams like Fnatic for example, get to ease through to the Minor without passing the complications of open and closed qualifiers."

The teams are demanding that Valve and PGL change the event to feature eight teams from two qualifiers. The current format features four invited teams— Fnatic, Heroic, HellRaisers and Space Soldiers — with another four coming from a qualifier.

Additionally, the teams "highly recommend" that the European and CIS qualifiers for the Minor be combined into one qualifier to "ensure the best European teams" are competing. They also say that the regional division between CIS and EU does not make sense since CIS teams play in EU online tournaments on a "daily basis." They also request that the next Minors be announced at least a month in advance.

The teams are demanding a response from Valve and PGL "in the next 48 hours."

"We are representing all of the affected top 50 teams from Europe (as of October 12, 2016 per the HLTV.org team ranking — excluding teams already invited to the Minor, and those who have a spot at the main Major qualifier or the Major itself)," the teams said in their statement. "If our voice does not get listened to, then whose does? Valve and PGL — we are waiting for your move."