Hackali steps down from BK ROG amid allegations of unpaid salaries and management issues

In a statement posted on Tuesday, February 3, Kevin “Hackali” Sousa announced that he is stepping down from his role as coach at BK ROG Esports, an LFL (French League) team, citing a chronic lack of professionalism from the organization’s management. After an offseason he describes as a “nightmare,” the Portuguese coach decided to terminate his commitments following a complete absence of contractual communication.

According to Hackali, the situation deteriorated from his very first days with the team. Despite joining the roster and starting practice on January 18, the coach was never able to secure a formal contract. He directly points to the organization’s CEO — Nicolas Choite, according to BK ROG website — stating: “Almost two weeks went by and since there were no updates at all, my patience was dropping lower and lower since I also have responsibilities and bills to pay by the end of the month.”

His post describes a series of systematic evasions from management, citing travel or technical issues. Hackali notably refers to a situation he considers unreal: “CEO told the manager (not IRL, somehow) that his phone broke so he can’t speak to me.” Faced with what he perceived as blatant disrespect, he explains that he felt “continuously disrespected, lied and joked upon.”

Despite the definitive split, the coach chose not to immediately abandon his players. Out of loyalty to the roster that initially selected him, he will continue coaching for the next three official matchdays of LFL Invitational on a voluntary basis. “I gave my word to the players that I’ll still participate and coach the upcoming 3x days of officials versus ZYB, Joblife & Solary,” he explains, stressing that he does not want to “leave them hanging” before the organization finds a replacement.

This abrupt separation appears to have deeply affected the coach’s motivation. Hackali does not hide his bitterness toward an ecosystem he views as deeply flawed: “I also wish any fucks were given to punish these type of unprofessional behaviors, but I’ve also unfortunately lost all hope after this huge rollercoaster since October.” After his final stint this week, Hackali plans to step away from professional coaching: “Watch us play in the next 3 days. Then I’ll likely look for an IRL job while streaming since being LFT now is hopeless to have a solid project.”

These accusations add to an already heavy track record for the Spring Split 2025 champions. Last October, former head coach Ali “Craft1x” Aklan publicly called out the organization and the league on X: “I need my salary. When you gonna send my salary?”, claiming he was facing seven months of unpaid wages. This financial instability appears to be a recurring issue in the club’s management.

A lack of transparency also underlined by Michal (@NavyL0L on X), player agent for DayZero Talents, who described a management team “allergic to communication,” preferring to move away from candidates requesting financial guarantees in favor of more accommodating profiles: “I've learned that they've moved forward with another candidate. Presumably one that did not ask uncomfortable questions.”

This alleged lack of transparency is far from new, as already confirmed by the organization’s former manager, Evan "Squalito" Svintsitski, in a public statement dated October 21, 2025. In it, he provided a detailed account of the club’s financial failures, denouncing “several months of delayed salary and team expense payments.”

According to his statements, the crisis extended well beyond the coaching staff and affected the entire roster: “3 players out of 5 are not up to date,” while the coaching staff had reportedly received no pay since July. Squalito also highlighted the human and administrative impact of this situation, revealing that head coach Craft1x “still hasn’t been able to retrieve his visa from the French authorities,” due to the club’s failure to regularize his situation. By directly calling out Webedia and Riot Games, the former manager underlined a complete deadlock where, despite repeated promises, payments were only “slowly moving forward,” leaving staff and players in prolonged financial insecurity.

Following Hackali’s post, most of the people mentioned in Squalito’s statement said they had not been paid in the meantime, or even worse, that they had received no contact at all from the French organization. Former BK ROG mid laner Šimon “OMON” Řiháček publicly explained his situation, posting: “@ASUS_BK_ROG could you please pay me what you owe me? If it doesn’t bother you, could you stop ignoring me as well?”. In his message, he notably states that he is still missing close to four months of salary, along with part of the prize money he was owed.

Craft1x also spoke out once again, explaining that he had even been able to discuss the matter with Webedia, which operates the LFL, but that “they replied that there was nothing they could do other than talk to them”. Clearly frustrated by the situation, the Turkish coach went as far as asking, “Who will fix these issues at ERL and how?”. This serves as yet another reminder that this is clearly neither the first nor the last time such cases have gone public in Europe and in France, and that Riot Games, like the organizers of the various leagues, consistently distance themselves from these situations, having no legal leverage to directly help players beyond sidelining the club involved.