Team Secret announces hiatus from Dota 2 pro scene

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The once-mighty Team Secret will take a break from joining Dota 2 tournaments for a while.

Team Secret, a leading European esports organization, announced on Saturday that it will temporarily stop competing in Dota 2 tournaments this year, effectively pausing its team’s participation in the professional scene.

Team Secret announced on X that their current Dota 2 team will be taking a break, but they haven’t ruled out returning to the game in the future. The news was met with disappointment from other organizations in the Dota 2 scene, including Aurora Gaming and OG.

I was really bummed to hear about Team Secret’s situation, and it’s good to see other orgs like BOOM Esports showing them support too. BOOM actually took a break from Dota 2 themselves a while back, so I guess they understand what it’s like to go through tough times.

From glory to hiatus: The story of Team Secret

Team Secret began in 2014 as a concept created by legendary Dota 2 players like Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein.

At first, the idea was that the team would be run by the players themselves, a totally player-led organization. But that dream really came to life thanks to Clement “Puppey” Ivanov – he ended up becoming the face of the team and made it all happen!

Led by Puppey, Team Secret developed several players known for their exceptional skill, including midlaner Michał “Nisha” Jankowski, offlaner Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg, and support player Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat.

Man, Team Secret was always a team to watch in Dota 2, even with all the player swaps they went through. They consistently won big tournaments, those Tier 1 and Tier 2 events, for a long time. Their peak, though? Definitely 2019-2020. I remember they were racking up trophies left and right – the Chongqing Major, the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, DreamLeague Season 13… they were unstoppable!

Despite their best efforts, Team Secret never managed to win The International. They came closest in 2022, but lost to Tundra Esports in the championship match.

Where is Puppey now?

Throughout 2025, Team Secret participated in several tournaments, but they had difficulty winning the qualifying matches for The International 2025 in Western Europe.

Puppey, the former captain of the team, is now a coach for PARIVISION as of February 2026. He’s also working as Team Secret’s talent director. Team Secret continues to compete in other games like VALORANT, Rocket League, and Rainbow Six Siege.

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2026-02-10 15:11