When Oleksandr "Zinchenko" Zinchenko spoke to HLTV in a remote interview during the summer of 2023, the sky seemed to be the limit for Passion UA. Here was a new esports organization with a strong national identity, personally endorsed by a renowned footballer playing for Arsenal.
"Passion UA was born out of my deep-seated love for gaming and my desire to contribute to the growth of esports in my home country, Ukraine," Zinchenko told HLTV.
"I am committed to building a world-class esports organization that will stand tall among the giants of the industry."
Three years later, that once-promising project now teeters on the edge of collapse. The entire Counter-Strike roster has been let go, while multiple employees have announced on LinkedIn that they are looking for new jobs.
Passion UA have been silent on social media since June 23, when they bid farewell to Zinchenko, describing him as a "media partner" — an odd title for someone who had effectively been the face of the organization from day one. Passion UA's YouTube channel, meanwhile, is no longer available.
Over the last month, HLTV spoke with several people to discuss what went wrong with Passion UA, who have amassed a substantial debt to their former CS team. They requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
HLTV reached out to Zinchenko and Passion UA CEO Artemijs Rjabovs for comment. Only Zinchenko responded to our questions.
For Passion UA, everything changed in August 2025, when they completed the signing of Complexity's quartet of Johnny "JT" Theodosiou, Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli, Michael "Grim" Wince and Nick "nicx" Lee.
The move reunited the players with head coach Tiaan "T.c" Coertzen, who had joined Passion UA four months earlier and brought in Luca "Munstur" Ioanițiu as his assistant, with Vladyslav "Kvem" Korol reinstated to the starting lineup after a brief spell on the bench.
"From that moment, profitability was out of the window," a source said. "People believed it would be a good investment. It would have been, if done correctly."
That moment marked a huge shift in direction for Passion UA, who had exclusively fielded Ukrainian players up to that point. Passion UA's all-Ukrainian roster had even qualified for the Major in Shanghai after beating Virtus.pro, Spirit and Astralis in the Europe RMR.
Between the RMR and the Major, Rjabovs, the CEO, announced that the players had signed long-term contracts with the organization. But the good times were short-lived: by the end of the first week of 2025, Passion UA had already swapped out two players. Two months later, star player Dmytro "jambo" Semera was sold to fnatic. Results kept slipping, leading the organization to drop the entire roster in August before eventually signing Complexity's core.
From a brand perspective, a Ukrainian organization with such a strong national identity signing an Americas-ranked team might seem an odd fit. But the pivot to an international roster allowed Passion UA to tap into a wider pool of talent, feeding Zinchenko's ambitions to build "a world-class esports organization."
It was also close to a guaranteed way to secure cash injections twice a year through sticker money, with Complexity having missed only one Major since acquiring Extra Salt's core in January 2022.
Still, signing a team ranked 21st in the world at the time brought a significant increase in costs, in addition to the substantial fee the organization had to splash out to acquire the players from Complexity. Beyond that, Passion UA was still a very new and inefficient organization, with CEO Rjabovs supervising almost every aspect, including finances.
"As nicely as I can put it, incompetence," one source said about the constant delays in his hiring process.
It was a far more bare-bones operation than what the team was used to. But at the same time, they had direct access to Zinchenko and the CEO whenever they needed to sort out a problem.
The new Passion UA squad endured a rough start to life, finishing 7th-8th at DraculaN Season 1 following 0-2 losses to Monte and 9INE. By mid-September, the team had slipped to eighth in the Americas rankings, barely inside the qualification zone for the Budapest Major.
To lift morale, Rjabovs promised the five players, head coach T.c and assistant coach Munstur a Rolex watch each if they made it to Stage 2.
The team eventually qualified for the Major after a streak of successful LAN runs, earning a spot in Stage 2 as Americas' fourth-highest-ranked side, behind FURIA, paiN and MIBR.
But not everything was sunshine and rainbows. By the time of the Budapest Major, the relationship between the organization and the players had begun to deteriorate. Salaries, initially paid mostly on time, had grown increasingly inconsistent, while tournament prizes had been a persistent issue throughout — and would remain so until the end.
Passion UA made it to Stage 3 of the Major, where they almost recovered from a 0-2 start before losing to the tournament's surprise package and eventual runners-up, FaZe, in the fifth round of matches following two 13-11 losses.
As the off-season rolled along, Passion UA looked for potential roster upgrades. The roster ultimately stayed unchanged as they couldn't find any deals that made sense, but just weeks into the new season, after last-place finishes in BLAST Bounty and IEM Kraków, the organization signed Santino "try" Rigal from Imperial and picked up Azbayar "Senzu" Munkhbold on loan from The MongolZ, replacing hallzerk and Grim.
A source said that Grim's transfer to NRG wasn't a performance-driven decision but a financial one pushed by Passion UA's management. Though Grim had considered a fresh challenge to spend more time in North America for personal reasons, he was open to staying after learning that try and Senzu were about to arrive, and the team would have picked him over nicx.
When word got out that Grim was being sold, Complexity stepped in, ready to block the transfer since they still hadn't received the full amount owed for the core's move to Passion UA six months earlier.
With the situation at an impasse, the Ukrainian organization settled part of the outstanding fee, while NRG paid the remainder directly to Complexity, deducting it from the buyout fee they owed Passion UA for Grim.
As much as the arrivals of try and Senzu put Passion UA on everyone's radar, the timing of the changes could not have been worse. The two new players had very different styles compared to their predecessors and little experience communicating in English. And there was barely any time for the pair to settle in as the season was already in full swing. Senzu even missed his first event, the Roman Imperium Cup V, due to personal circumstances, forcing Grim to play as a stand-in.
"If this had been done in the off-season and we had more time to prepare, like most of the other teams, we would have probably been able to catch up," a source said.
"The team was inconsistent but still had a good ceiling."
The weeks leading up to the April 6 Major cut-off were a grind, as Passion UA scrapped for a spot in Cologne, only to come up short in the end after a loss to Sangal in the grand final of Urban Riga Open Season 4.
Unsurprisingly, morale took a significant hit, but the team shook off the frustration and carried on as normal. They competed at IEM Rio with Justin "FaNg" Coakley standing in for Senzu due to the event's regional restrictions for invites, then at FRAG 20 — the Mongolian star's final event with the team before his sudden move to BC.Game, who took over the loan agreement from Passion UA.
Around that time, the team began to press harder for their missing sticker money from the Budapest Major.
As early as January, they had begun questioning why they still hadn't received their share of the team items, especially since the second installment of their individual sticker money had already come through. But upon learning that some other teams hadn't received their money either, and with their main focus on qualifying for Cologne, they had temporarily set the matter aside.
As a Stage 2 team, Passion UA made approximately $618,000 from digital items from the Major. Two sources said Rjabovs, the CEO, attributed the delay to the company opening a new bank account in Dubai to receive the sticker money, as part of a broader plan to relocate there and move its operations out of the United Kingdom.
A creeping sense of worry set in among the players. In the nearly eight months they had been playing under Passion UA, the company had at times seemed to struggle with cash-flow issues. Hotel bookings often weren't paid for in advance, and flights were frequently booked last minute. There were also occasions when hotel check-outs were scheduled for the last day of an event and not the day after, causing unnecessary stress and discomfort among the players — almost as if the organization didn't expect them to make the final.
"You walk into the room, and you can hear people saying, like, 'When are we getting our prize money? When are we getting our watches? Have you guys been paid your salary for this month?'" a source said.
"I don't think anyone can be fully focused on the game and the tournaments they're playing in when these concerns exist at the back of players' minds."
With the season almost over, Passion UA signed Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev on loan from ENCE as a stopgap solution. The team still competed in the closed qualifier for Stake Ranked Episode 2 and at IEM Atlanta before withdrawing from the BC Game Masters Championship Season 2. The decision to skip the event in Portugal, which came from the organization's hierarchy, sent the team plunging in the rankings.
Just two days later, HLTV revealed that Passion UA were open to offers for their players.
A source said Passion UA initially planned to sell their two most valuable assets, JT and try, blow up the roster, and start fresh with a lineup built on the same principles as the one they had originally entered the scene with. But in the days that followed, the extent of the company's financial hole was uncovered internally, leading to the dismissal of every employee.
Meanwhile, Imperial announced that they had called off the deal with Passion UA over try's transfer. HLTV has learned that the Ukrainian organization failed to fulfill the terms of the deal, and that the Argentinian player is still owed part of his wages.
As confusion reigned among the team about what came next, Zinchenko publicly distanced himself from Passion UA.
"I joined it as a media partner who believed in the idea, believed in people, believed that we could build something real for Ukrainian esports," he said in a video posted on Instagram on June 23.
"From the first day, my role at Passion UA has been that of a media partner for the organization. I helped to develop the project, attracting the audience's attention, and did everything possible for the team to have the opportunity to grow and move forward.
"After a lot of thinking and a thorough analysis of the situation, I came to the conclusion that the right time had come for me to cease my participation in it. This is not an easy decision, but it is thoughtful and conscious. Today I want to inform you that I am officially stopping my cooperation with Passion UA and leaving the team."
Zinchenko's portrayal of his own role within the company caught everyone off guard, directly contradicting the narrative that had been sold from day one—even by himself.
"Normally, in your head, when you talk about the owner, you talk about someone you can't be close to, you can't speak to, so I just told the lads that I'm open for them 24/7," he told HLTV in 2023.
He also noted: "I don't know in which way I can help the guys apart from investing."
Internally, Zinchenko kept a tight grip on the team and clashed with the players when things went wrong. In an August 2025 recording shared with HLTV, the footballer is heard giving his players a dressing-down after Passion UA were thrashed by BIG in the closed qualifier for StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025.
"I feel like I have shown you my good side, right?" Zinchenko said in a Discord call with the team. "But I haven't once made any sudden moves or decisions yet. Those who know me better know that I can be a bit hot-tempered. I just don't understand. Fuck, this is a fucking disgrace, for fuck's sake. 1-13, 3-13? What the fuck is this? Why do you go [into the game]? Explain it to me, please.
"Why the fuck do we pay you salaries to be in the top 50? Explain. Put yourself in my shoes. Can someone explain to me what's happening? I don't fucking need demotivated players, I don't need them. I put you together, a dream team instead of, for example, pulling out the cash the organization earned before. I put you together because I believed in you, and I still believe to this day.
"But the patience is not fucking infinite."
That was the last day the team played for Passion UA. Just 48 hours later, the organization benched three players and released the other two — a move that paved the way for the signing of Complexity's core.
In public, the CEO played up Zinchenko's role in important matters. He revealed that Zinchenko had personally called try several times to convince him to join amid interest from other organizations, and had reassured Senzu that Passion UA would support him with whatever he needed.
"We work as a team: me, Oleksandr [Zinchenko], T.c, and JT," Rjabovs said in a February interview with Leniniw.
In that same interview, he said Senzu's transfer "was done by me, T.c, the management, and Oleksandr [Zinchenko] to make it possible."
"For example, if we take organizations like Liquid or fnatic, they have a big corporate structure and it takes a lot of time and effort for them to make decisions," he added.
"But for us, it takes one call from me to Sasha [Zinchenko] — and it's done, we are working."
When contacted by HLTV, Zinchenko insisted that he had no control over the company's finances and was merely the public face of the brand.
"Throughout the entire existence of the organization, I did not receive a single cent from it, nor did I make any financial investments," he said. "My only contribution consisted of my image rights and my involvement in developing the brand as its public face.
"This is what I was referring to in my 2023 interview as 'investing', by investing my image rights and brand.
"If I remember correctly, almost three years ago, Mr. Rjabovs approached me with the idea of creating an esports organization. From the very beginning, my role was solely to serve as the public face of the brand. I was a media partner, and I lent my image rights and public brand to the project.
"Therefore, I am not distancing myself from my involvement in the project, but I also cannot accept responsibility for matters that were never within my area of responsibility. That is exactly what I explained to the guys."
What's certain is that Zinchenko's statements about his involvement in Passion UA lent credibility to the project and helped attract sponsors. He played an active role in signing Complexity's core, calling players to convince them to join and ease their concerns about the organization.
"Zinchenko's involvement was obviously used to build trust," a source said. "His name gave people confidence to leave secure jobs and sign with Passion because they believed they were joining an organization backed by someone with the resources and reputation to support it.
"At the end of the day, probably no one would have joined Passion if it wasn't for his involvement."
More than one month after Zinchenko left Passion UA, the organization's website still names him as a "team owner."
Passion UA's public filings with the United Kingdom's Companies House database show that Zinchenko gave up significant control in the company on May 10, 2025. A separate filing shows that Rjabovs, the CEO, has since held 75% or more of the company's shares.
The biggest question is why both filings were submitted only a year later, on May 18, 2026, the same day the organization ended the team's season early.
"First of all, I was never legally an owner of the organization — this can easily be verified through the official records," Zinchenko told HLTV.
"The public filings that you refer to are wrong, and I am taking steps to correct that position. I should never have been listed as a person of significant control. The statement I made in one of my interviews about ownership was part of the project’s public positioning and was intended to attract the attention of potential partners and sponsors. I was only ever a media partner."
Asked why the filings were submitted a year late, Zinchenko said: "This question would be more appropriately addressed to Mr. Rjabovs, as I had no knowledge of these circumstances."
The ties between Zinchenko and Rjabovs extend to other companies:
Zinchenko Gaming Limited, established in June 2023. Zinchenko held majority ownership (70%) and Rjabovs held a significant minority stake (30%). It was dissolved in December 2024, days before PASSIONUA LTD was established.
Alex Zinchenko Investments Limited, established in June 2020. Only Zinchenko was listed as an initial shareholder, while Rjabovs was a director but not a shareholder. It was dissolved in November 2023.
Ozir Limited, which was established in July 2019 under the name Alex Zinchenko Image Rights Ltd, initially with Rjabovs as the sole owner before Zinchenko took a controlling stake. November 2024 filings show that Rjabovs' majority/sole control stake had been restored, with Zinchenko removed as a director. The company changed its name to Ozir Limited in July 2025 and is currently in liquidation.
"I do not deny that Mr. Rjabovs was a close friend of our family for many years and had access to many aspects of my professional and personal activities," Zinchenko told HLTV.
"However, our relationship has changed significantly since then. I cannot comment on these matters at this stage as they remain subject to legal and potentially criminal investigation."
Several sources said that they expect Passion UA to file for liquidation. The company currently owes between $500,000 and $600,000 to the former CS team, two sources said. The bulk of it is from the sticker money from the Budapest Major, which Rjabovs allegedly told the team on several occasions Valve never paid.
Valve did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
As for the Rolex watches promised to the team for making Stage 2 in Budapest, Rjabovs never mentioned the topic again.
After initially agreeing to speak with HLTV for the article, Rjabovs stopped responding.
HLTV knows that he sold his 50% stake in the A&P Performance Lab — a Riga-based bootcamp facility co-owned by ASTRAL — along with its equipment, in June 2026. Ownership of the facility is now split evenly between ASTRAL and their CEO, Evgeny Shalkovsky.
"I don't think there's much hope to see any of the money," a source inside the team said. "I think we've all pretty much made peace with the fact that the odds of us seeing any of the money are close to zero.
"But at the end of the day, there needs to be some kind of accountability. It's also about preventing this from happening again in the future, even if it's not to us, to other people."
Three years after Passion UA launched amid great fanfare, the company is quietly closing down, Zinchenko's grand vision left unrealized.
"To the community, I would simply like to say thank you," Zinchenko told HLTV. "Thank you for your support, your trust, and for all the emotions we shared together.
"For me, this chapter has come to an end, but I hope we will meet again on the esports stage."
Passion UA
Rodion 'fEAR' Smyk
Dmytro 'jambo' Semera
Vsevolod 's-chilla' Shchurov
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Eduard 'zeRRoFIX' Petrovskyi
Mikhaylo 'Kane' Blagin
Monte
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Aurélien 'afro' Drapier
Gytis 'ryu' Glušauskas
Jack 'Gizmy' von Spreckelsen
Oscar 'AZUWU' Bell
Virtus.pro
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali
David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan
Petr 'fame' Bolyshev
Pavel 'PASHANOJ' Legostaev
9INE
Jan 'cej0t' Dyl
Rasmus 'raalz' Steensborg
Tobias 'kraghen' Kragh Jensen
Josef 'faveN' Baumann
Love 'phzy' Smidebrant
NRG
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek
Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott
Damian 'daps' Steele
Dmytro 'jambo' SemeraPast 3 months
FURIA
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Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Michael 'Grim' WincePast 3 months
Vladyslav 'Kvem' KorolPast 3 months
BC.Game
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Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Adones 'krazy' Nobre
Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
MIBR
Raphael 'exit' Lacerda
Aleksei 'Qikert' Golubev
Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto
Felipe 'insani' Yuji
Klimentii 'kl1m' Krivosheev
Jhonatan 'jnt' Silva
The MongolZ
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren
Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold
Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch
Zolbayar 'tikuak' Chimedtseren
Dugarsuren 'DarkMeister' Ireedui
Erdenedalai 'maaRaa' Bayanbat
paiN
Franco 'dgt' Garcia
Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado
Lucas 'nqz' Soares
João 'snow' Vinicius
Henrique 'rikz' Waku
Luca 'Munstur' IoanițiuPast 3 months
Oleksandr 'Zinchenko' ZinchenkoPast 3 months
ASTRAL
Genc 'gxx-' Kolgeci
Oliwier 'swiz' Janus
Roland 'RaY5ive' Siminejev
Artjom 'Neqy' Sahnjuk
Aleksandrs 'meowpop' Berezjuks
Allan 'Rejin' Petersen
Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyPast 3 months
fnatic
Rodion 'fEAR' Smyk
Dmytro 'jambo' Semera
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi
Volodymyr 'mazay' Iorhachov
Miks 'Independent' Siliņš
Santino 'try' RigalPast 3 months
BIG
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Can 'kyuubii' Ali
Karim 'Krimbo' Moussa
Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz
Jon 'JDC' de Castro
Spirit
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Complexity
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Danny 'Cxzi' Strzelczyk
Nick 'nicx' Lee
Passion UA
Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen
Passion UA
Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol
Nikita 'jackasmo' Skyba
Volodymyr 'Woro2k' Veletniuk
Sergiy 'DemQQ' Demchenko
Oleksii 'Topa' Topchiienko
Azbayar 'Senzu' MunkhboldPast 3 months
Imperial
Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes
Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo
Lucas 'decenty' Bacelar
Kaiky 'noway' Santos
Guilherme 'saadzin' Pacheco
Marcos 'tacitus' Castilho
Håkon 'hallzerk' FjærliPast 3 months
FaZe
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Jakub 'jcobbb' Pietruszewski
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouPast 3 months
Passion UA
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Nick 'nicx' Lee
Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol
Santino 'try' Rigal
Azbayar 'Senzu' Munkhbold
Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen
Passion UA
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
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Nick 'nicx' Lee
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Nick 'nicx' LeePast 3 months
Sangal
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Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov
Luca 'pr1metapz' Voigt
Selman 'R4DYX' Ozan
Jimmy 'Jumpy' Berndtsson
ENCE
Henri 'HENU' Ylilehto
Aleksi 'millert' Lehtopuu
Teemu 'teme' Korva
Niki 'Cliqq' Kinnunen
Giorgi 'Schwarz' Gakhokidze
Aleksi 'allu' Jalli
Viktor 'sdy' OrudzhevPast 3 months
Astralis
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard
Victor 'Staehr' Staehr
Casper 'ruggah' Due
Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen