fnatic have just announced the signing of an Academy team, consisting of up-and-coming Swedish players, including Niclas "PlesseN" Plessen and Aleksandar "jayzaR" Zarkovic.

The team have been put together by coach Andreas "Samuelsson" Samuelsson, who hand-picked the five players after an immense scouting period with the aim of compiling a dedicated roster with potential to make it to the next level.

One of the more known names of the new squad is Niclas "⁠PlesseN⁠" Plessen, who made headlines in April by standing in for fnatic during Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer's leave, although he was later on replaced by John "⁠wenton⁠" Eriksson due to inexperience.

The AWPing role will be fulfilled by Aleksandar "⁠jayzaR⁠" Zarkovic who made his name in INFINITY and Iwku and played at Copenhagen Games 2016 with the latter.

Two former visomvet players have been brought in as well, in-game leader Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim and Linus "⁠Bååten⁠" Andersson, while the lineup is completed by Alex "⁠Karus⁠" Saglamoglu, who is participating in FACEIT's Pro League (FPL) and reached 7th place in April.

"Today we are pleased to announce our latest CS venture: Fnatic Academy CS:GO." fnatic's Chief Gaming Officer, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, said in a statement. "We have identified what we believe is some of the most talented and hard working players in Europe, and from today onwards these individuals will form one of the strongest semi-professional teams, which we as an organisation will support in their journey towards becoming the eSports stars of tomorrow."

Coach Samuelsson also shared a few words in the announcement:

"The Academy Team is an exciting project which includes five of the best young talents in Europe. All five players have the potential to become great pro players with the right dedication and motivation." "Our goal is to gain as much experience as possible this year, both online and offline and finally qualify for a Major in late 2017. I'm confident that we can achieve that goal together. I also want to give a big shout out to Patrik "cArn" Sättermon and Fnatic for their full support."

fnatic Academy are:

The team will make their debut in the last ECS Season 2 Development league qualifier on Saturday.