Recently relegated from the 2020 Season of CBLoL, with a 4-12 score, Redemption POA Esports has been under fire for failing to pay its players properly. South Korean duo, Jungler Choi "BalKhan" Hyun-jin and Bot Laner Im "Patrick" Jin-hyeok went to the public eye to shed a light on the situation.

Redemption POA began its activities in 2018, working its way up from minor tournaments to the Superliga ABCDE in 2018, joining CBLoL in 2019. The team had a somewhat successful run up until the first Split of 2020, where they struggled to maintain themselves as a dominant team, coming in last place and being relegated from the league.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BalKhan had asked the team to be released from the contract around the end of April, so he could join his family in South Korea. The player had returned to his country, streaming on a daily basis, which caused confusion to the fans, as the organization had not publicly revealed the player had been let go. 

Vinícius Aguiar, director of Esports at Redemption POA, told Mais Esports the organization had not issued any statements due to legal reasons, and to avoid xenophobic comments regarding the player’s departure from the team, as it had happened previously with other players in the league who decided to leave Brazil on account of the coronavirus crisis.

Following his exit from the team, BalKhan, joined by Patrick, made statements on Twitter in attempts to have the situation resolved. The import players are both owed a grand total of R$65,000, around $11,200, according to a report from Mais Esports. “Me and BalKhan have been waiting for more than two months and they continue to ignore our contact. I tried to understand and be considerate of them as much as I could, but I can't wait any longer”, said Patrick in a reply to his teammate’s tweet exposing the case.

Angelo Tellechea, Redemption POA Esports founder issued a statement regarding the outstanding salaries: “Everything is being resolved. This was an internal misunderstanding that just now had been brought to my attention, and now I am giving this case priority to ensure everything is solved as quickly as possible. I have nothing but appreciation for the players, and this was a grave mistake in our end, they are correct in asking us for their rights”.

BalKhan had mentioned in his Twitter he would not be pursuing a career in professional gaming any longer. His contract had been terminated in April, however, Patrick is still tied to the organization until November of 2020.

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