A missed paycheck is bad enough, but being accused of match-fixing is potentially career-ending. Counter-Strike Major finalist Nicholas “Keoz” Dgus has accused his organization, kONO.ECF, of breaching his contract by failing to pay his salary, and he believes they planted false match-fixing allegations too.

He claims that the organization resorted to these false accusations to withhold his payment. 

From Salary Dispute to Match-Fixing Allegations

The story starts with CS2 player Keoz claiming kONO.ECF breached his contract by failing to pay his guaranteed salary for December 2025, which he says was due by a fixed date each month.

KONO has breached my contract.

Organisation of Ukrainian football player @kono10official have not paid my guaranteed salary for December, despite a valid obligation to pay no later than the X day of each month.

I am asking for nothing more than the minimum salary guaranteed by…

— Keoz (@KeozBEAST) January 18, 2026

Keoz mentions that once he started demanding payment, the organization pressured him to stop insisting. kONO even tried to dismiss the issue completely, allegedly saying the amount of money owed “won’t make anyone richer.” He stated that he had never been benched, suspended, or sanctioned, meaning there was no reason for him not to be paid.

The former GamerLegion star continued, saying that after he formally demanded payment, he “suddenly” received claims based on anonymous information accusing him of match-fixing. The organization then requested that he take a polygraph test.

Keoz added that the accusations surfaced only after the organization had already breached the contract, leading him to believe the claims are coming from the organization itself to withhold payment.

kONO.ECF Responds

The organization replied, denying Keoz’s claims, but did not directly confirm whether his December salary was paid. Instead of addressing the missed payment issue, kONO said it had no reason to “punish” players. 

In fact, the situation was that the player had an outstanding financial debt to the team, which should have been resolved several months ago. On our side, the organization acted in good faith and offered the most convenient repayment schedule possible for the player.

— kONO.ECF (@konoecf) January 19, 2026

The team confirmed that Keoz was indeed asked to undergo an integrity review based on the match-fixing allegations he said he had received. However, kONO stated this was simply a standard and preventive procedure, and not a public accusation. 

The organization then claimed that communication was moved to private channels at his request. It then doubled down, alleging that people claiming to represent Keoz had threatened to cause reputational damage if payment was not made.

Most notably, kONO did not point to any contract clause of financial reason that would justify withholding his salary.

Keoz Alleges kONO Invented New Reasons to Withhold Payment

Keoz said the organization still has not paid his December salary and that nothing in his contract allows kONO to withhold or reduce it.

The 25-year-old claims that after the dispute was moved to private communication, the organization began saying he owed them money from a previous buyout. According to Keoz, this was never written into his contract and was never signed. On top of that, the amount being claimed is even higher than what was previously discussed. 

On the alleged “debt”:

When the organization acquired the players, it was verbally stated that a part of the buyout cost would later be offset from salary/salaries.
A specific amount was discussed and confirmed at that time.

Now, months later, the organization is demanding a…

— Keoz (@KeozBEAST) January 21, 2026

Keoz believes this is just another excuse not to pay him. According to the player, the explanation for the missing salary has shifted several times, and the alleged debt surfaced only after he demanded payment, just as with the match-fixing allegations. 

Former kONO Player Also Alleges Threats

Another former kONO player, Zahar “Polbandana” Siledchyk, supported Keoz’s claims on X. Polbandana stated that he also experienced threats, this time of physical violence, from the management of the organization during his time playing under the team. 

https://twitter.com/Polbandanacs2/status/2012957647272821011?s=20

Evidently there are ongoing disputes between kONO.ECF and its players. The organization was co-founded by Ukrainian soccer star Yevhen Konoplyanka, who played for huge European teams such as Sevilla and Schalke throughout his career.

While CEO Oleh Shustenko posted his statement and version of events to social media, Konoplyanka has not commented publicly at the time of writing.