While serving a suspension from professional football for testing positive in a recent drug test, Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk has also been banned from FACEIT’s Counter-Strike 2 platform. It was recently revealed that the Ukrainian player engaged in offensive behavior while playing competitive Counter-Strike on FACEIT, resulting in a one-month ban.
Per reports, Mudryk was suspended for toxicity after making damning and abusive comments to Polish players in Counter-Strike 2. He made references to an ‘ethnic cleansing’ that occurred from 1943 to 1945 that saw Ukrainian forces kill anywhere up to 100,000 Polish civilians.
Banned From Both Sports and Esports
Mudryk, a 25-year-old professional football player, has played for Chelsea since 2023 and has made numerous appearances with Ukraine’s national team. On December 17, 2024, he was provisionally suspended by the Football Association for testing positive for doping, facing up to a four-year ban.
Yesterday, images surfaced on social media revealing Mudryk, who plays under the moniker ‘Mudr1k’ on FACEIT, was banned from the platform and will be reinstated early in March.
Users shared comments Mudryk made in text chat while playing Counter-Strike 2. In one, he said ‘volyn next map’, a reference to Volhynia, a site notorious for the Ukrainian massacre of Poles in the 1940s.
The comments were made in response to flak he was receiving in chat, with one user writing, ‘Bro do more drugs.’
One line, translated by social media users, read, ‘Volyn you will remember forever, bum.’
It’s no big secret that multiplayer gaming can be an inherently toxic environment, and this is a perfect example of that sentiment. Counter-Strike has long been a breeding ground for behavior like this, and many feel that a 28-day suspension from FACEIT isn’t severe enough punishment for someone with Mudryk’s profile.
Do you think the punishment fits the crime, or should the ramifications of Mudryk’s comments be more severe? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news about the truth behind cheating in games
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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