Counter-Strike Player Joel Receives Lifetime Ban from Esports Integrity Commission
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- Swedish Counter-Strike player Joel ‘joel’ Holmlund has been banned for life by the Esports Integrity Commission.
- During a grace period before the final decision, Joel attempted to blackmail the ESIC to keep the issue private.
- In total, for the last 24 months, Joel has breached 17 points of ESIC’s code of conduct and one point of the anti-corruption code.
A lifetime ban on Swedish Counter-Strike player Joel ‘joel’ Holmlund was issued by The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) following a series of serious breaches of the organization’s code of conduct and anti-corruption policies.
In August 2024, during the CCT European Series Season 2, Joel, formerly a player for GODSENT, was found in possession of a hardware cheat, the Asdfware EFI bootkit, which contained both an aimbot and triggerbot. This form of cheating is considered one of the hardest offenses in competitive gaming, and Joel admitted to the violation in a written statement to the ESIC.
However, during a grace period before the final decision, Joel attempted to blackmail the ESIC to keep the issue private. The Commission called this action an “egregious breach” of its integrity program, marking yet another serious offense in a history of repeated misconduct. In total, Joel has now violated the anti-corruption code once and the code of conduct 17 times over the past two years. Previous infractions included match-fixing, cheating, and attempts to manipulate outcomes, as well as intimidating ESIC officials.
As a result of his actions, Joel is now permanently banned from participating in any ESIC-affiliated events. The ESIC also has recommended to non-Member Tournament Organisers and game publishers (including Valve) to honour and enforce this ban.
Tournament Organizers with ESIC membership:
- Galaxy Esports
- DACH CS GmbH
- Hero Esports
- NCOVR
- Exeedme
- GT Sports League:
- Relog Media
- 247 Leagues
- Allied Esports
- WePlay Esports
- FYX Gaming
- Nodwin Gaming
- Dreamhack
- ESLI
- Estars Studios
- Blast Pro Series
- Eden Esports
- LVP/Fandroid
On top of that, ESIC partners with such national federations as the European Esports Federation, the Mongolian Esports Association, the Swiss Esports Federation, the New Zealand Esports Federation, the Portuguese Esports Federation, the Bahamas Esports Federation and game publisher Moonton.
Joel’s case marks the second time of someone getting banned for life. The previous incident happened in December 2023, when Alexey Shyshko, owner of teams such as Akuma, Majesty, and Project X, received a lifetime ban for orchestrating match-fixing and facilitating cheating over an extended period.
