First American qualifies to European ECL

Fnatic Academy player Adam "WolfY" Andersson has made ESEA history by becoming the first American player to qualify to ESL Challenger League/ESEA Premier. While the young AWPer is also a Swedish citizen, WolfY spent multiple years playing in the NA scene with the likes of Oceanus, Swedish Canadians, and Secret Club before returning to Europe in 2021.

WolfY's recent success comes after linking up with Fnatic Rising in an unofficial capacity at the start of September. While he is yet to be announced by the Swedish organization, he played the entirety of ESEA Advanced Season 42 EU with Fnatic Rising, where the team finished in fifth place following a decider match against Czech squad Dynamo Eclot.

In Relegation, WolfY and co. narrowly clinched their spot in ECL S43 EU following a loss to SAW and wins over Iron Branch and Sergey "starix" Ischuk's Aurora squad.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, no North American players have previously come close to qualifying to EU ECL or EU MDL in its long history. The last time a player came within striking distance of the league was former Mythic player Donovan "zNf" Froid during his European sojourn in 2016.

During his time with a French team called pugstars, zNf played in a direct qualifier to ESEA MDL Season 23 back when the league had a less defined structure. His team finished in joint last place following a loss to François "AMANEK" Delaunay and David "devoduvek" Dobrosavljevic's Red Instinct team.

Fnatic Rising consists of:

• Peppe "Peppzor" Borak

• Matias "Banjo' Kivistö

• Mikkel "Maze" Sparvath

• Sebastian "volt" Malos

• Adam "WolfY" Andersson

WolfY and his European colleagues are also competing in WePlay Academy League Season 6, where he is also the first American citizen to compete. Fnatic Rising currently have a 3-0 record in their respective group.