The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has given a lifetime ban to Counter-Strike 2 player Maurizio “MAUschine” Weber after he slapped another player during CAGGTUS Leipzig 2026, a major gaming festival held annually in Germany.
The incident happened on April 19 during the awards ceremony. MAUschine, who played for the runner-up team Full Shock, walked up to Fabian “Spidergum” Salomon from the winning team Legendenlobbys and slapped him across the face on stage.
The hit knocked Salomon’s glasses off. He appeared shocked as staff quickly stepped in and removed MAUschine. The moment was caught on the live broadcast and quickly spread online.
During the final match a day earlier, Salomon had mocked MAUschine by copying his in-game shout “papichulo.” It was seen as light trash talk. Later, MAUschine reacted angrily on his livestream and said that if he had seen the clip earlier, he would have knocked him out. He also told viewers to watch the next day’s awards ceremony. That clip was later deleted.
The tournament organisers, DACH CS Masters, took quick action. They removed MAUschine from the stage and banned him from their events for 10 years. They also reported the matter to ESIC, which is a British-Australian non-profit members’ association dedicated to protecting the integrity of competitive esports.
After reviewing the case, ESIC said MAUschine broke its rules by committing physical assault during a live esports event. It called the act serious and unacceptable. ESIC said violence has no place in esports and that player safety is very important. Because of this, it has banned MAUschine for life from all events linked to ESIC. The player has also had his Twitch channel banned after the incident.
ESIC said in its official statement, “ESIC’s investigation found that Mr Weber committed a physical assault against another participant from an opposing team on stage following a match. This conduct represents a flagrant and unacceptable breach of the ESIC Code of Conduct, including violations relating to violence, participant safety, and the fundamental obligation to act with integrity and respect at all times.”
This isn’t the first time ESIC has looked into serious issues in esports. Earlier, they handed CS2 pro Dmytro “nifee” Tediashvili a four-year ban for match-fixing and betting-related corruption. They also gave Chinese esports figure Jinhui “Jim” Cao a five-year ban after he admitted to multiple charges tied to a big StarCraft II match-fixing case.
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