Falcons to sign NiKo following Shanghai Major

Bosnian Superstar, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač is set to sign with Falcons. According to multiple reports, G2 Esports and Falcons have agreed upon a $1 million to $1.2 million buyout for the rifler. The move will see NiKo move to the Falcons roster following the conclusion of Perfect World Major Shanghai.

The move was initially discussed by French streamer and leaker Sebastien "⁠KRL⁠" Perez in a post on X. According to the post, the organizations had agreed upon a buyout and were awaiting NiKo's signature on the contract.

A Sheep Esports report followed two days later, with further details about the contract duration and buyout. The report pins the buyout at $1 million to $1.2 million. The move will also see NiKo accept a three-year contract with the Saudi organization.

NiKo has always been one of the most sought-after players in Counter-Strike, owing not only to his incredible skillset, but also his superstar persona. Throughout the last decade, NiKo has moved between organizations have always been some of the largest buyouts in the franchise. His MOUZ buyout in 2016 was rumored to be around $500,000. His FaZe buyout followed suit, reportedly a $750,000 to $1 million price tag. Now, Falcons is set to boost that number even higher.

If the report is true, the Shanghai Major will be the last event NiKo will play with G2 Esports. The Bosnian first joined the team in October 2020 after a few years of dissapointing IGL stints with FaZe Clan. Since then, the team has gone through countless iterations. The initial roster saw NiKo paired with French legend Kenny "kennyS" Schrub.

However, that roster was quickly deemed not up to par, leading to kennyS being benched. That move gave birth to the G2 roster that eventually made the finals at PGL Stockholm 2021. Then, 2022 and 2023 saw G2 go international, with Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov being the signing that would change G2's fortunes. The team went on to win four trophies, including IEM Cologne and IEM Katowice.

Towards the end of 2023, growing rumors pointed to NiKo joining the Falcons roster at it's initial construction. But at the 11th hour, he took a surprise U-turn and stayed with G2. Not only has that left Falcons in a limbo without a superstar. But it flipped G2's plans on its head, too.

G2 was initially set to replace NiKo and Justin "jks" Savage, with two stars that would hopefully be able to take up the superstar mantle. But when NiKo stayed with the Berlin organization, they were forced to reconsider, and ended up signing Nemanja "nexa" Isaković instead. That flubbed move resulted in nearly six months of a dysfunctional roster and resulted in the more recent roster changes.

For NiKo, winning IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne have been the highlights of his G2 career. But at the same time, his most coveted trophy has remained elusive. Not only has NiKo failed to win a major, but his closest brush came off the back of a rifle-led carry performance back in 2021. The Bosnian has tried every other alternative — super teams, unique-IGLs, IGLing himself — but nothing has worked.

Now he will hope that with the help of Danny "zonic" Sørensen, the most decorated coach in CS2, he can finally achieve his dream. Falcons has some good pieces, but more importantly, it has the budget and ambitions to achieve success. Will it all pan out as NiKo hopes? We'll have to wait an see.

Esports.gg reached out to Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Danny "zonic" Sørensen for a comment on the report.

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