SINNERS replace BET-M for IEM Atlanta as ESL punish team for missing "necessary documentation" for visas

ESL have announced that BET-M have been replaced in IEM Atlanta 2026 by SINNERS due to the team being unable to provide "necessary documentation" required for their visa applications. The Russian underdogs finished the Global Qualifier for Atlanta in second-place as serious underdogs, besting the likes of SINNERS, Fnatic, and Inner Circle on their way to qualification.

BET-M admittedly had a difficult road to acquiring visas for the event as an all-Russian team amid current geopolitical tensions. However, it appears that they have some blame in being unable to get visas, as ESL have sanctioned the team for not providing them with the "necessary documentation" needed for this visas. While admittedly vague, it suggests that they potentially failed to provide passports or other documents to ESL in order for the TO to assist with visa processing. With this, ESL have sanctioned the team with "a ban from receiving an invitation to the next Tier 1 event for which they would otherwise have been invited."

While the Top 70 are far from any direct invites at the moment, this could come back to bite them should they continue to climb the ranks.

The team list for IEM Atlanta 2026 is now: