Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson, a former Counter Strike: Global Offensive pro who used to play for the Sweden-based team Ninjas in Pyjamas, has posted a tweet calling for the team’s current CEO to resign from his role. This follows accusations Fifflaren made earlier this week concerning NiP’s alleged treatment of its players.
As reported by Dexerto, Fifflaren posted a tweet yesterday that says “Do you want a screenshot from when I’m asking you for help cuz I don’t have money to pay my taxes and you ignore me? Sure it’s just one of many @ChahineHichampay. Pay the players and resign.” The screenshot messages are from 2016 and in Swedish, but according to a translation offered by Twitter user Liiinusen, the messages from Fifflaren to NiP CEO Hicham Chahine are about needing money to pay taxes and being unsure of what to do, which Fifflaren alleges didn’t get a response.
Earlier this week Fifflaren shared some points with the Richard Lewis Show (via Dexerto) about his NiP days (he left the team almost five years ago). He alleges that some of the team’s players hadn’t received some prize money from 2012-2013, and that some of their employment contracts contained a clause giving NiP the ability to terminate their employment at any point.
He also says that he was required to apply in writing to NiP for permission to have a girlfriend, and even alleged that at one point previous CEO Niklas Fischier had “fled to Thailand” and taken some of the organisation’s money.
Do you want a screenshot from when I'm asking you for help cuz I don't have money to pay my taxes and you ignore me? Sure it's just one of many @ChahineHicham pay the players and RESIGN pic.twitter.com/VMyhDkpiEA
— Robin Johansson (@Fifflaren) July 25, 2019
Current CEO Chahine has since issued a response in a statement on the team’s website, which looks to offer some clarification and context. In it, he says that the new management team has “dedicated all of our time and energy to recovering the organisation from its turbulent past and mismanagement. There’s a number of things that happened in NiP’s past before our time and direct oversight. In both instances, we aim to be open and accountable with our fans, and to put lingering issues from the past right – now and in the future.”
On the point of Fifflaren’s comments, Chahine says that NiP settled all of its remaining financial obligations with him on September 20, 2016, four days after it received an invoice from him, and extended an offer to come back to play with the team in 2017.
On Twitter, Chahine has also said that he’s happy to chat with “any and all” former NiP players or employees should they want to raise any unresolved concerns.
In the last couple of days a number former NiP players have also weighed in on the conversation.
We reached out to Ninjas in Pyjamas, which responded, “I appreciate there is some interest in that and it is something we want to get to the bottom of”, indicating that there may be news to follow. We also reached out to Hicham Chahine for comment and will update this story with any new information.