Animal Squad have relinquished their spot in the ESL Pro League, the tournament's organisers have announced.

The Aussie-Kiwi team had been competing in the Pro League under the name "Animal Squad" since the end of April, when the tournament license was transferred to the players from the organisation following a dispute between both parties.

In addition to being owed a month's salary, the players were allegedly left stranded in Australia, with no flight tickets to return to the United States, forcing them to play out their final Pro League fixtures from Australia and New Zealand.

zewsy & co. forfeit EPL matches due to lineup issues

However, the team have informed ESL that they will be forfeiting their remaining two matches in the league, citing "lineup issues". With two forfeits already to their name, Animal Squad are disqualified from the Pro League and will forfeit all the prize money earned over the season.

All of the matches played by the Oceanic team, who had posted wins over Luminosity and Rush, "will be voided and will not be taken into account" in the final ranking, ESL has added.

Contacted by HLTV.org, ESL explained that Animal Squad will not even get demoted to ESEA Premier, which would be standard for the team finishing at the bottom of the table. The disqualification will not affect the relegation stage, with the Pro League teams who finished 12th and 13th facing off against the top two Premier sides.