TL;DR:
- League has established the amount of outstanding debt from Crvena zvezda towards Ecstassy to be 11.4% of his total remuneration;
- Prize-pool was not a part of the contract. No annex nor amendments were provided;
- Both Crvena zvezda and Ecstassy agreed to have the remaining debt settled by August 18th;
On August 3rd, League was made aware of the tweet from Ecstassy and the payment issues he faced while a member of Crvena zvezda and Cyber Wolves Esports (investigation on-going).
For context and transparency, the League was aware of delayed payments during EBL 2022. After completing the investigation, it was clear that Crvena zvezda faced issues themselves, waiting on delayed payments from partners.
League decided to fast track some of its own payments in order to help mediate the situation and speed up payments towards players, with the majority of the debt settled before the end of 2022.
During the investigation, League also reached out to some more recent team members and concluded that the team has made significant improvements in this regard in 2023 (mainly Spring, as Summer split is still on-going), and will continue with periodical check-ups for the time being.
Both Crvena zvezda and Ecstassy have been very cooperative and transparent during the investigation process.
Once all of the documentation and details have been submitted by both parties, the League concluded:
- Player has been paid out 88.6% of the total* remuneration prior to the Tweet (two out of three salaries delayed);
- Outstanding debt equals 11.4% of the total*.
- Contract includes periods of different pay levels (i.e. different amount for period between last ERL match and first EM match) which might’ve added to difference in expectations of total remuneration referenced in the original Tweet;
- Prize-pool was not included in the contract. Contract explicitly states that remuneration isn’t changeable without an annex in place. No such document has been provided.
*Absolute numbers omitted to protect player and team privacy.