Brazilian esports organisation paiN Gaming has secured a sponsorship agreement with crypto-native betting platform CHEXX specifically for the duration of the IEM Cologne Major 2026. Announced ahead of the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) premier tournament, the deal installs CHEXX as the main jersey sponsor, occupying the prominent centre-belly and right shoulder-blade positions on the team’s official attire throughout the entire championship.

The collaboration aims to drive digital and physical engagement through coordinated social media campaigns and on-site event footprint activations.

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CHEXX, which already operates as an official betting partner of tournament organiser ESL FACEIT Group, will expand its physical presence at the event venue by hosting a dedicated spectator booth. Alongside various interactive fan activations, the platform will conduct promotional giveaways featuring co-branded paiN Gaming jerseys.

On the digital side, the contractual terms encompass targeted promotional publications across the official social media channels of both the organisation and its active CS2 roster. This is not the only recent limited-time action carried on by paiN Gaming, which has conducted a marketing campaign with battery brand Duracell in late 2025.

Global Esports Industry Week (GEIW) will return in 2026 with a bigger and bolder edition, taking place across 18–21 June in Cologne, Germany, alongside IEM Cologne. The schedule and details about ticket sales are available in this link.

The announcement received mixed responses by the community on social media, following a trend in which sponsorships connected to the betting segment are being called out by esports fans in different organisations, including recent backlash faced by Sheep Esports after an agreement with Polymarket, and by Fnatic for launching a platform that mirrors practices seen in the skin gambling market.

Controversial responses are also motivated by the current moment of paiN Gaming, which was recently hit by the worst crisis in its 15-year history. In March 2026, long-standing CEO Thomas Hamence resigned following investigative reports into the administration’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against League of Legends (LoL) player Alexandre “TitaN” Lima, prompting immediate backlash on social media that saw prominent fan groups “sever ties” with the club. This internal turmoil coincided with a severe competitive decline in the CBLOL (Brazilian League of Legends Championship), where the team endured one of the worst splits in history, securing just a single match victory.

Even though the CS2 division was not directly connected to the controversy, the whole organisation felt the shake up following the case, with the team captain Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt even reaching out to a fan on X saying that “paiN is more than just LoL” and that other esports “still count on [fans’] support and affection.”

As an alternative avenue to sustain the brand, paiN Gaming has found refuge in competitive parallels like the Kings League, a seven-a-side football tournament established by former footballer Gerard Piqué. Competing under the name Desimpain through a strategic partnership with YouTube channel Desimpedidos, which was the theme of a recent feature by The Esports Radar. the roster won the domestic Brazilian tournament to secure qualification for the upcoming international edition of the circuit, balancing the organisation’s troubled traditional esports moment with emerging entertainment formats though fans still claim on social media for further administration changes.

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