Heroic has issued a statement revealing that they won't be accompanied by their head coach Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen at IEM Cologne. No concrete reason has been given, but it was detailed that Mental & Performance Coach Troels "robl" Robl and Physiotherapist & Osteopath Kasper Straube will be acting as replacements.
The statement from the team reads: "The change is based on our key priority as an organization - to always perform at our very best. Having Troels and Kasper on site provides us with invaluable support and great team dynamics. We are both ready and excited to defend our champion title from last year."
Interestingly, Dot Esports has noted that the decision could be related to HUNDEN's potential move to Astralis. According to the source, Astralis is considering hiring HUNDEN to replace their current coach Danny "zonic" Sørensen in 2022. Zonic's contract is due to expire on December 31, 2021, and it is possible that he may decide to lend his talents to a different team.