XSET Rainbow Six coach banned for a year for “major misconduct” at Charlotte Major

XSET’s Rainbow Six Siege coach Matheus ‘Budega’ Figueiredo has been handed a 12-month suspension from competition after “engaging in major misconduct” against members of Team Liquid.

The Rainbow Six Charlotte Major brought together the best Siege teams in the world to fight for their share of the $500k prize pool.

XSET were one of 8 teams that had made it to playoffs, with their quarter-final matchup against Astralis mere hours away when news broke.

Before the first day of playoffs got underway, the Rainbow Six Esports account announced a competitive ruling against Budega, handing him him a 12-month suspension and a $5,000 fine.

The ruling read: “On May 17 and 18, during matches between XSET and Team Liquid, XSET coach Matheus “Budega” Figueiredo breached the Rainbow Six Circuit Global Rulebook on multiple occasions, engaging in major misconduct directed at members of Team Liquid.

“As per the Rulebook – Annex B – Penalty Index, it has been decided to issue a 12-month-long suspension against Budega, effective immediately and until May 18, 2023, and to issue a competitive fine of USD $5,000 against XSET.”

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Fans and players alike were left stunned by the announcement. Soniqs head coach Lauren ‘Goddess’ Williams said that a year “seems pretty excessive,” while Rogue captain Leon ‘LeonGids’ Giddens echoed the response of many: “wtf?”

Budega responded on Twitter shortly after the announcement, and called Liquid’s actions “childish.”

“Not even a single message or a chance to defend myself,” he said. “Just woke up and saw this. Thank You Liquid, your childish actions has done you fine! Hope u can win now!”

According to the Rainbow Six esports handbook, ‘Major misconduct’ could be any of the following infractions:

• Any actions or statement which may be found offensive and related to gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability or mental illness, ethnicity, nationality, skin color, religion
• Impersonation of any team players, managers, admins or Ubisoft employee
• Theft-related crimes such as burglary, robbery or larceny
• Deliberate intimidation, actual or threatened physical violence against another person
• Stalking, harassment, inappropriate physical contact, unsolicited sexual attention

Budega has been handed the minimum punishment; the maximum punishment would be a lifetime ban.

According to Team Liquid manager André ‘Sensi’ Kaneyasu, Budega targeted homophobic slurs at one of their players.

At the time of writing, Ubisoft have not provided specific details on the reason for the ban.

Dexerto has reached out to Budega for comment.