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The LAN has been canceled due to concerns over the geopolitical situation in Ukraine and the ongoing pandemic.

WePlay was slated to host its third Academy League LAN since the start of the development league in 2021. It was going to take place at the WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 11-13th, but the event has now been moved online.

The Kyiv-based tournament organizer decided to cancel the LAN along with the Academy League's teams for two reasons, one being the ongoing Covid pandemic, which has been exacerbated by the Omicron variant, and the other being geopolitical in nature amid threats of a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The WePlay Esports Arena will not host the WAL Finals for the first time

"The geopolitical issue on the Ukrainian borders, which has been going on for several weeks, causes a lot of concern," the Ukrainian TO's statement reads.

"The uncontrolled epidemiological situation with COVID-19 in the world, the daily introduction of new restrictions on international transportation also make logistics especially difficult. The safety of tournament participants, our employees and all stakeholders was, is and will be our priority."

The four teams that qualified upon the conclusion of the league's regular season, BIG Academy, Spirit Academy, MOUZ NXT and Astralis Talent, will therefore fight through the double bracket in an online setting with the squad led by Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek defending back-to-back championships in the first two seasons of the league, both of which had the finals held at the WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv.

The tournament's upper bracket will kick off on February 11, with the following match-ups:

15:00 BIG Academy vs. Spirit Academy
18:00 MOUZ NXT vs. Astralis Talent

Astralis Talent #96 Alexander 'Altekz' GivskovFrederik 'Fessor' SørensenVictor 'vigg0' BisgaardBenjamin 'brzer' JensenMikkel 'MistR' Thomsen MOUZ NXT #29 Jon 'JDC' de CastroKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekMiłosz 'mhL' KnasiakHubert 'szejn' ŚwiatłyDorian 'xertioN' Berman BIG Academy #75 David 'prosus' HesseKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaElias 's1n' SteinNico 'Aqua' KembitzkyMarcel 'hyped' Köhn Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek Age: 19 Team: MOUZ NXT Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 446 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Spirit Academy #73 Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoAleksandr 'KaiR0N-' AnashkinMyroslav 'zont1x' PlakhotiaArtem 'ArtFr0st' KharitonovDenis 'notineki' Kalachev