Players Unite for CS:GO Association

Nearly 100 top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are uniting to form the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association (CSPPA), electing seven players to serve on its board, including Astralis’ Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth, Team Liquid’s Epitácio “TACO” de Melo and Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Cloud9’s Tarik “tarik” Celik, mousesports’ Chris “chrisJ” de Jong, and Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert and Nathan “NBK” Schmitt.

Operations will be handled by legal advisor Michael Doi and CEO Mads Oland, according to the announcement. In an interview with HLTV, Doi noted that the org would be looking to offer players legal advice and in negotiating and signing contracts with teams and organizations with an eye toward eventually becoming a collective bargaining arm for the players.

“As any other players’ association, we will work to secure the best possible working conditions for players in CS:GO, while of course taking into account the special nature of the industry,” Doi told HLTV. “In any sport, it makes sense that players can influence their employment conditions. There is certainly a huge difference in how CS:GO contracts are structured, and there will definitely be players that could benefit from guidance when signing them.”