ESL announced that the Winterfox Pro League license will be transferred from the organization to its players due to issues between the two parties.

In the official announcement, ESL claims that issues between the Winterfox players and the organization have been brought to their attention "within the last few weeks".

The news on the matter first broke on April 9th, when Slingshot Esports reported that the Winterfox owner allegedly owes players money and has left the team in Australia without visas to return to the US and play out the rest of ESL Pro League.



ex-Winterfox received the license for their ESL Pro League spot

The problems became apparent soon after the initial report, as the Winterfox squad played multiple EPL North America matches from Oceania, on an incredibly high ping.

Today, ESL came out with a ruling stating that Winterfox's license has been removed from the organization on their own request and transferred to the majority of the players.

The full ruling is as follows:

"Winterfox's License has been removed on their own request and transferred to the majority of the players with the restriction to use a majority lineup. The players will continue to play in the League as "Animal Squad" and will be allowed to finish out the season from Australia. However, if the team secures a slot for next season, they will need to return to North America in order to be eligible to further play in the League."

As stated in the ruling, ex-Winterfox will play out the rest of the season from Australia and New Zealand under the name "Animal Squad".