8Sins, currently the only UK team in the Upper Bracket at EPIC.LAN 45, Rupert Hoop as their new coach.
Since John “Dutchy” Holland decided to return to playing rather than coaching at the end of last year, 8Sins have been without a coach.
Despite this, the British squad have achieved great success this year, making the finals of EPIC.LAN 44 and UKIC Season 5 Division 1. Unfortunately, they fell to a familiar foe both times.
NXT, the undisputed best team in UK CS over the last year, have been consistently raining on 8Sins’ parade this year. 8Sins have been continuously sitting second best, and even if it does get excruciatingly close, they haven’t been able to close it out when it matters the most.
8Sins recently swapped out EPIC.LAN 44 MVP Michael John “Prime” Fury with Antal “Cher1on” Lubbers, who is a familiar face in UK CS, playing for The Last Resort and ANTARTICA.
Looking to close the gap to their arch nemesis, 8Sins enlist the help of experienced sports psychologist Rupert Hoop, who is transitioning to a head coach role for the first time.
The Belgian started working in traditional sports alongside esports. His first professional team as a sports psychologist was the German squad, ALTERNATE aTTaX, at the start of 2024. The highlight of his time with ALTERNATE aTTaX was playing at IEM Cologne 2024.
8Sins after beating NXT in the group stage of EPIC.LAN 45
Moving into this year, ALTERNATE aTTaX closed doors, and Metizport plucked him up. This was a step up in the level of competition, battling against higher Tier-2 teams and Tier-1 teams constantly. The culmination of his time in the Swedish squad was their 3-1 run at the BLAST.tv Austin Major European MRQ, granting them a spot in the biggest event of the year.
Unfortunately, their time in Austin didn’t go to plan as they bombed out of the Major 0-3 in Stage 1.
Shortly after, Rupert Hoop‘s time with the organisation came to an end.
As previously mentioned, this would be Hoop’s first time coaching a team outright. Making his debut at EPIC.LAN 45, so far, has been going swimmingly.
8Sins made it out on top of Group B, beating the likes of Synical and NXT. The highlight came after a heroic comeback against NXT, winning 10 rounds in a row to close out the match 13-9.
So far in the playoffs, they are the only UK team to remain in the Upper Bracket after they dominated bezos bois. Their next game will be against Danish side AaB at 1 pm BST.
UKCSGO spoke to 8Sins’ manager Azza about why they picked up Rupert Hoop and what he brings to the table:
The reason 8Sins signed Rupert is because the team just loved him straight from the beginning of trials, he was always giving really insightful inputs and constantly asking for feedback to help him improve himself, he is just so nice to be around, made shadows disappear.
Since he has been here, it’s honestly been amazing. He’s brought many things to the team, two mainly being his background in esports as a sports psychologist and his history of coaching in traditional sports. Though this is first ever stint as a head coach in CS, the experience he has gained over the years can really help push this roster to a higher level.
Our expectations now for the future may sound ambitious in ways but are also very achievable. UKIC Masters Champions, Promotion to ESEA Advanced along with a minimum of Grand Finals at EPIC.LAN. I feel that with Rupert, the team can achieve these expectations pretty well, it’ll take some time of course, but I’m quite confident.
With some pretty high expectations set, 8Sins is living up to them currently. The question is, will they be able to power past these European juggernauts at EPIC.LAN 45?
Beyond excited to be coach of @8sinsesports! 😎
Already had an amazing first LAN day with the boys @EPICLAN topping our group and winning our hltv upper bracket game! 🔥
Lets go! @moz_cs @dutchycs2 @Cher1onCS @XpWolfie @wfnnnnn @Zachqrias @englishazza @S3annyB#8SINSONFIRE https://t.co/PRkME8EIYh
— Rupert Hoop (@RupertHoop) July 18, 2025
