The CS2 scene lost a major player. YaLLa Compass won’t continue their 1.5M prize pool tournament series. And what’s more alarming; Players, staff, and talents are owed over a million dollars.
How did YaLLa Esports, the organizer of multiple Tier 1 and 2 CS2 tournaments, end up with over a million dollars in debt? On Aug. 6, the organization quietly announced that it was closing its operations.
It all started with an X post by the Arab company. The two-sentence statement said that "the YaLLa Compass journey has come to an end." Then, they proceeded to close all their other social media channels and the website.
A day later, we learned that their problems were bigger than the end of their series of tournaments. Luís Mira, HLTV's Lead Reporter, posted an article with over five thousand words sharing players, organizations, casters, and even the co-owner's side of the story. All of them pointed fingers at one man: Klaus Kajetski, YaLLa's founder and CEO.
Who is YaLLa Esports in debt with, and what's the status of their payments?
Currently, YaLLa's million-dollar debt is split between teams, players, and their former staff. Due to privacy concerns, most of the complaints are anonymous. However, some were very vocal about the money they are owed through social media.
Creditor Type | Approximate Amount Owed | Main Concern / Complaint |
|---|---|---|
| Teams (prize money) | ~$700,000 ($200K to MongolZ, $250K for Honor of Kings' roster) | Unpaid winnings despite tournament participation |
| Employees & Staff | ~$160,000 | Unpaid salaries, missed payroll for multiple months |
| Talent (casters, media staff) | >$35,000 | Unpaid fees for event work |
| Contractors / Production Companies | Not disclosed | Invoices unpaid; out-of-pocket spending |
| 1xBet (sponsor refund) | $160,000 (of the initial $250,000) | Refund required due to cancelled events |
Wadih Al Sayah, YaLLa Esports co-owner, also raised his voice about this topic. He was removed from the organization earlier in 2025 and is owed an estimated amount of at least $272,000. After going through legal proceedings against the organization, he received a part of the money owed. However, his soul was crushed by the situation.
Al Sayah said that the end of YaLLa was like "a stab in the heart," and he's still hurting about it. He saw the rise of their esports teams before Klaus closed all of them to focus on tournament organizations. He wasn't pleased with this decision. The cessation of the esports team's operations happened shortly after their Honor of Kings team's successful International Championship 2022 run. They earned $250,000, which was paid by Tencent, but some players didn't receive their prize money.
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List of reasons why YaLLa had to declare bankruptcy
We can deduce from HLTV's report that YaLLa Esports CEO already knew of the multiple operational issues his company had years ago. Closing all of their esports teams out of the blue was a major red flag. They also made multiple mistakes across this process:
- Tournament expansions: After releasing their esports teams in 2023, YaLLa started their Compass CS:GO tournament series, where they offered $400,000 prize pools for the Tier 2 scene, leading to a Tier 1 LAN final. While this was huge news for the emerging teams, it's not an easy product to market.
- Poor coordination: Following the previous point, YaLLa Esports' debt was also from negligence. Earlier this year, the YaLLa Compass Winter 2025 edition lost their Tier-S HLTV status after not complying with Valve's new rules regarding invites and tournament stages. This caused them major problems with their sponsors.
- The 1xBet-Qatar fiasco: YaLLa Compass Qatar was scheduled too close to another BLAST tournament. This obligated them to change it to an online format, and half the prize pool to $300,000. Thus, 1xBet penalized and fined them with $160,000 of the agreed $250,000. According to HLTV's report, YaLLa Esports still hasn't paid this debt to their sponsor.
- A tone-deaf liquidation process: Allegedly, Klaus Kajetski constantly lied to his employees about their payments. He had them working for free for months before scheduling an online meeting where he announced the cessation of operations, while talking about the hardships he alone endured.
- Exit without paying: By the end of this publication, YaLLa Esports closed before paying over $700,000 to the teams that played their tournaments, like The MongolZ, NaVi, and more.
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We strongly suggest that you read the full article by HLTV. Stay tuned for more news at esports.gg!
