Qikert retires from playing to coach Spirit Academy

Aleksei “Qikert” Golubev has ended his nearly decade-long playing career to coach Spirit Academy. The 27-year-old Kazakh rifler won the IEM Rio Major with Outsiders in 2022.

Qikert left MIBR at the start of the year and later joined 1win, with whom he won MPKBK CIS LAN Season 4. The title brought his career trophy total to 12.

His other notable wins include BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019, ESL Challenger Rotterdam and ESL Challenger Katowice 2023. He also reached the StarLadder Major Berlin final with AVANGAR and attended seven Majors. His latest appearance came at the StarLadder Budapest Major with MIBR.

Qikert joins an academy system that has developed players including Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia, Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov, Timur “FL4MUS” Marev and Pavel “S1ren” Ogloblin.

Spirit Academy’s previous coach, Vladislav “Flash_1” Bykov, will remain with the organization and coach Spirit Academy White. The academy roster includes Kirill “Kiryasoo” Solovkov, Nikita “s1nside” Besedin, Vitaly “VILBy” Zakharyuta, Kirill “k0gaSs” Emelyanov and David “Netrix” Kudziev, with Qikert serving as coach.

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