Passion UA Owes Up to $600K: Stickers, Rolexes, Dubai Account

The Passion UA story now has a sequel darker than the collapse itself. According to an HLTV investigation, the organization owes its former CS roster and coaching staff between $500,000 and $600,000, two sources told the outlet. We covered the club's implosion last week: back then it was about visas and three weeks of practice. It turns out the collapse had a financial floor, too.

The timing is pointed: the investigation dropped two days shy of the one-year anniversary of the deal that started it all, the Complexity core's move to Passion UA in August 2025.

The core debt: Budapest Major sticker money

Most of the sum is revenue from StarLadder Budapest Major digital items. As a Stage 2 team, Passion UA earned roughly $618,000 from them, and none of it reached the players or staff.

The timeline, per HLTV, reads painfully familiar to anyone who has waited on a paycheck that was always "coming". By January the players had started asking where their share of the team items was, especially since the second installment of their individual sticker money had already arrived. After learning that some other teams had not been paid either, they set the issue aside: the Cologne qualifier was coming up.

Then comes the detail that makes this story stand out. According to two sources, CEO Artemijs Rjabovs attributed the delay to the company opening a new bank account in Dubai to receive the sticker money, part of a broader plan to move operations out of the United Kingdom. In parallel, per HLTV, he repeatedly told the team that Valve had never paid out at all. Valve itself did not respond to HLTV's repeated requests for comment.

A Rolex for making Stage 2

A separate brushstroke: to lift morale before Budapest, Rjabovs promised the five players, head coach T.c and assistant coach Munstur a Rolex watch each for reaching Stage 2 of the Major. The team made it. Per HLTV, the CEO never brought the watches up again.

Unpaid transfer fees

The debts go beyond the roster. Per the investigation, Passion UA never paid Complexity in full for that very core (JT, hallzerk, Grim, nicx), which gave the Americans grounds to block Grim's February move to NRG; NRG ended up covering part of the sum. Same story with Imperial: the fee for AWPer try was never fully paid.

HLTV describes the debt collectively, as owed "to the former CS team". That season's roster and staff: JT, hallzerk, Grim, nicx, Kvem, try and Senzu, plus coaches T.c and Munstur; the outlet separately notes try was underpaid on salary. Payment delays, per HLTV, predate the Budapest Major.

Zinchenko: "I did not receive a single cent"

Club founder and football star Oleksandr Zinchenko is distancing himself from the financial claims. Speaking to HLTV, he insists he was merely a "media partner": "Throughout the entire existence of the organization, I did not receive a single cent from it, nor did I make any financial investments."

The public records make that awkward: UK Companies House listed Zinchenko as a person with significant control. His answer: "The public filings that you refer to are wrong, and I am taking steps to correct that position." And on his relationship with Rjabovs, he said the thing that speaks louder than any number: he cannot comment because the matters "remain subject to legal and potentially criminal investigation."

What happens next

Several HLTV sources expect Passion UA to file for liquidation. The players themselves, per the outlet, rate their chances of seeing the money as close to zero. CEO Rjabovs initially agreed to answer HLTV's questions, then went silent; the club's social media has been quiet since June 23, and its YouTube channel is gone.

The irony: a year earlier the same Rjabovs publicly boasted that Shanghai Major stickers had earned Passion UA "an amount equal to the team's two-year budget". Between those two statements sits the club's entire arc, from Ukraine's flagship CS organization to an archived page in the rankings and six-figure debts. The backdrop is the same one crushing the whole tier-2 scene: the sticker economy these clubs ran on has collapsed.

FAQ

How much does Passion UA owe its players?

Between $500,000 and $600,000 to the former CS roster and coaches, per two HLTV sources. Most of it is undistributed StarLadder Budapest Major sticker revenue (roughly $618,000 in team items), plus unpaid transfer fees to Complexity and Imperial.

Who exactly is owed money?

HLTV puts the debt collectively, as owed "to the former CS team", meaning the 2025/26 roster and staff: JT, hallzerk, Grim, nicx, Kvem, try, Senzu and coaches T.c and Munstur. Payment delays, per the outlet, predate the Budapest Major.

What does Zinchenko say?

That he was only a media partner: he says he never received "a single cent", made no financial investments and had no control over finances, and calls the Companies House filings listing his control wrong. He declines to elaborate, citing a legal and potentially criminal investigation.

Will the players get their money?

HLTV's sources expect the organization to file for liquidation, and the players rate their odds of getting paid as close to zero. No lawsuits had been reported at the time of publication.