- The Spanish coach is being temporarily replaced by NABOWOW
- This ends a three-year-long partnership between the CS:GO organization and the coach
- Arki’s release is part of SAW’s efforts to reorganize going forward
Portuguese CS:GO organization SAW announced it is parting ways with main coach Omar “arki” Chakkor days after the team dropped out of the BLAST Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A in last place.
Arki Leaves SAW
SAW announced the release of 33-year-old CS:GO coach Omar “arki” Chakkor, marking an end to a three-year partnership. The coach first joined the Portuguese team in January 2020 as a player, before transitioning to the coaching role. SAW also announced that Daniel “NABOWOW” Brito will temporarily replace arki until the end of the competitive season.
Arki’s departure also marks the first time he will not compete alongside Ricardo “roman” Oliveira since 2018 and Christopher “MUTiRiS” Fernandes since 2019. The three CS:GO professionals used to play together under the Giants brand before being signed by SAW.
“Today we say goodbye to arki. The warrior leaves, as of today, the position of coach of the CS:GO team,” reads SAW’s statement about arki’s release. “In order to try to find a new direction and achieve the progress we are looking for so much, we unanimously and very thoughtfully decided to reorganize the technical team.”
Arki’s departure is perhaps linked to SAW’s dismal performance at the recent BLAST Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A, where the team finished dead last. Despite that, arki leaves a lasting impression on the team during his time as a coach. He took up the reigns in July last year when SAW announced sweeping changes to their lineup after a defeat to FTW in the domestic championship.
Under his guidance, the Portuguese team claimed victories at Elisa Invitational Fall 2022 and ESL Challenger League Season 43 Europe as well as other regional events like the ESL Masters Spain Season 12 Finals and Master League Portugal X Finals. During arki’s stewardship, SAW achieved their highest-ever position on the HLTV’s rankings, reaching No 20. The team’s most recent major victory was perhaps when they unexpectedly beat Imperial in ESL Pro League S17, sending them to the last-chance bracket of the Maltese event.
Unfortunately, the team was not able to keep up the same performance in the following months, with SAW failing to qualify for both the IEM Rio and BLAST Paris Majors. Now, SAW is heading into the ESL Challenger League Season 45 Europe with its new temporary coach NABOWOW. The team currently looks like this:
- Christopher “MUTiRiS” Fernandes
- Ricardo “roman” Oliveira
- Tiago “JUST” Moura
- João “story” Vieira
- Michel “ewjerkz” Pinto
Daniel “NABOWOW” Brito (coach)