João ‘felps’ Vasconcellos will not represent Gaimin Gladiators at the IEM Cologne 2026 Major after being abruptly removed from the organization wholesale.
The veteran player was instrumental in the organization’s first Counter-Strike Major qualification, but will not play in Cologne following his sudden removal from the roster.
felps removal sparks confusion and anger from fans
As part of Gaimin Gladiators, felps displayed both leadership inside and outside the game to secure Gaimin Gladiators’ spot at the Major, reportedly accepting a salary cut to fund roster improvements.
According to Dust2 Brazil, “To pay for the arrivals of Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles and Luca ‘Luken’ Nadotti, João ‘felps’ Vasconcellos gave up receiving his salary for the next few months.” (translated)
Ultimately, that sacrifice paid off as Gaimin grinded through Brazilian LANs to make the major for the first time in its history. That fact did not prevent felps from being removed from the roster.
Gaimin’s statement itself was as abrupt as the benching itself; only two sentences with no details of the reasoning behind the benching whatsoever.
“We have officially terminated the contract of João ‘felps’ Vasconcellos effective immediately. He no longer represents Gamin Gladiators in any capacity.”
The terse nature of the statement immediately caught fans eyes, with one user questioning, “What happened that the statement is this cold?”
Others questioned the timing of the announcement, saying, “Couldn’t have waited until after the major at least to show some respect and gratitude?”
Ultimately, the reasoning for the removal is not known, but the replacement for felps at the Major has been reported. SK/Luminosity legend, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga is expected to take the spot in the roster after a prolonged period away from competition.
felps removal evokes Dota 2 TI controversy
felps’ removal immediately drew comments, which drew parallels between his removal and Gaimin’s withdrawal of its roster from The International (TI) 2025.
At the time, the organization claimed that the roster wished to “compete independently,” without representing the organization, and therefore withdrew the roster from the competition.
That claim was disputed by player Quinn ‘Quinn’ Callahan, who stated, “We explicitly communicated, in writing, that we were ready, willing, and able to compete in The International under the Gaimin Gladiators banner. Gaimin Gladiators, however, refused to allow us to do so.”
GG CEO, Nick Cuccovillo replied that the team wished to compete independently but failed to reach a buyout agreement with the organization. The org, therefore, had no confidence in the team representing the org, so Gaimin withdrew from TI.
The incident led to a $7,500,000.00 CA lawsuit (roughly $5.45 million USD) by the org, which claimed that comments by Quinn had cost the org a sponsorship, and that the team had failed to meet social media deliverables.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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