XTQZZZ Returns To Team Vitality

Team Vitality confirmed the rumours of XTQZZZ's return on Friday, just two days after the announcement of Danny "zonic" Sørensen's departure from the team. XTQZZZ rejoins his former teammates in Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and apEX, alongside whom he formed the Team Vitality roster when he first joined the French squad in 2018.

During his three-year-stint with Team Vitality, XTQZZZ has accomplished a lot and helped Vitality emerge as one of the best Counter-Strike teams in the world before XTQZZZ got replaced by ex-Astralis head coach zonic in December 2021 amid Vitality's transition to an international roster.

After leaving Team Vitality, XTQZZZ has spent nine months at the helm of G2 Esports, before taking a 10-month hiatus and joining TSM as the new head coach in late August 2023. However, the 34-year-old's stint with TSM was rather short-lived, as he left the team after just over one month.

By returning to Team Vitality, XTQZZZ will oversee a different version of the roster he led in 2018, with Emil "Magisk" Reif, Lotan "Spinx" Giladi, and Shahar "flameZ" Shushan as three new members.

Besides announcing the signing of XTQZZZ, Team Vitality also confirmed that the team's in-game leader apEX has extended his contract and will remain with the team until 2026.

XTQZZZ's signing comes just a few days before Team Vitality will attend Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023, the first Counter-Strike 2 LAN event since the CS scene transitioned to the new game version. However, XTQZZZ will not be able to travel with the team to Australia and will help Vitality remotely while Mathieu "MaT" Leber takes over as a temporary head coach for the tournament.

IEM Sydney 2023 is set to kick off on Monday, October 16, with Team Vitality playing their first series against BetBoom Team in Group A.