Guangzhou Charge Appear To Be Starting A Rebuild, Part Ways With Coaches
The Guangzhou Charge has announced the departure of their South Korean coaches Sung-woo "Sungwoo" Hong, Seung-min "Tydolla" Jung, and Hyo-jin "J1N" Cho. The group had coached for the Charge since the franchise entered the Overwatch League in season 2. The team has not announced the recruitment of a new coaching staff.
The news dropped with accompanying commentary by American Guangzhou Charge player Charlie "nero" Zwarg, quote tweeting the announcement of the departure with the comment "so it begins."
The comment appears to imply that there is more news of departures from the Guangzhou Charge to come. The organisation has not publically announced their plans for season 4 and whether or not the team aims to revise their roster-building strategy but the departure of the full Korean coaching staff, the late signing of Chinese flex DPS player Cai "Krystal" Shilong, and nero's comment appear to hint at a change of strategy.
Teams like the Toronto Defiant, who counted on a roster-building strategy incorporating Canadian players, had shared that they were among the teams with the most skin sales and revenues.
Due to a change in seasonal format as part of the Overwatch League contingency plan, the Asian region had to be split off from the North American division in order to avoid unnecessary travel during the global pandemic. It is believed that despite a disappointing playoff performance, the Charge still performed well throughout season 3. The Chinese team had finished second in the Asian division of the Overwatch League behind the Shanghai Dragons and had won the Summer Showdown tournament. In the Asian region playoffs, the team fell short against the Seoul Dynasty and the New York Excelsior.
Due to visa and COVID-related restriction, nero alongside his Spanish teammate Alberto "neptuNo" González had to repeatedly travel to their home countries in order to extend their visas and had therefore missed large parts of the season requiring extensive quarantine periods several times during the active season. Before these complications, both players had been consistent starters for the Charge throughout the competition.
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