G2’s winningest coach in CS2 is quitting the game for good at the age of 29 cover image

G2’s winningest coach in CS2 is quitting the game for good at the age of 29

Many fans expected Swani to join a new top team in 2024.

G2's former Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) head coach Jan "Swani" Müller retired from competition on Wednesday, April 3.

G2 Swani retires from CS2

The announcement comes less than four months after the 29-year-old coach departed G2's CS2 roster to take care of himself as the job had taken a "big toll" on him.

During his break, many fans wondered where Swani would land next as he helped G2 win both IEM Katowice in February 2023 and IEM Cologne in June 2023, the biggest trophies the organization ever lifted since entering the professional scene in 2015. But, Swani has chosen to retire prematurely from the game and move on to another chapter.

"It is with heavy heart that I am announcing my retirement from Counter-Strike," Swani wrote on April 3 via X. "During my extended break I had a lot of time to think about my next steps and even though I had several interesting opportunities I decided that it is best for me to focus on other aspects of my life."

G2 Swani's retirement message (Image via Swani on X)
G2 Swani's retirement message (Image via Swani on X)

In the announcement, Swani stressed that the routine of a professional CS2 head coach was "super draining" for him throughout 2023, which meant staying away from home for over 180 days of the year. This was the main reason for Swani retiring early from the game.

Swani's CS2 career

While Swani shined the most as G2's head coach last year, he worked for several teams such as Team Liquid, SK Gaming, MIBR, NRG, and FURIA between 2015 and 2019 as the team analyst. It wasn't until 2021 that he had a shot as head coach in G2, and took that role definitively only in 2022.

While it's impossible to measure Swani's importance in the prestigious championships G2 won, the international squad headlined by Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač have yet to win tournaments under the current head coach and legend Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas.

G2 recently fell in the playoffs of IEM Katowice in February and PGL Copenhagen Major in March, and thus remains one of the most traditional organizations in the scene to never win a Valve-sponsored tournament.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more CS2 news and updates.