Big news comes from the MENA Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports scene, where one esports team has been disqualified from MPL MENA Fall 2023 because of a serious violation. Not only that, this also cost their spot to go to the upcoming M5 World Championship!

Relayed directly through the @mlbbarabicofficial Instagram account, the post revealed several incidents ahead of the Final round of MPL MENA Fall 2023 on October 19, 2023 involving three teams: Geekay Esports, Team Occupy, and Okami Esports.

The problem stems from Geekay Esports being unable to participate in the MPL MENA Fall 2023 Playoffs due to not getting a travel permit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. MPL MENA has made every effort to send them to the Playoffs, considering how Geekay Esports topped this Regular Season standings.

Unfortunately, until the deadline, the Egypt-based team still did not get a travel permit to Riyadh.

Team Occupy Leaks Information, Disqualified from MPL MENA Fall 2023

Geekay Esports' failure to appear in the MPL MENA Fall 2023 Playoffs led to another problem. Based on an investigation conducted by MPL MENA, it was found that Team Occupy received non-official access to information that should have been confidential. 

Team Occupy management was found guilty of leaking the information to another external party, which is a player from Okami Esports, Simon "H4NIESALAS" Clayton Dela Cruz Salas. Because of this, he was also charged with direct infringement by MPL MENA.

For these violations, MPL MENA punished Team Occupy in accordance with the rule guidelines they had agreed to before MPL MENA Fall 2023 began, namely disqualification from the tournament. 

Team Occupy's Team Manager also received a ban from engaging in MLBB esports activities in the MENA region for one season. Meanwhile, from Okami Esports' side, H4NIESALAS received a ban from engaging in MLBB esports activities in the MENA region for one year. 

Okami Esports also received a warning and a 15% reduction in tournament prizes because the team management was deemed negligent in supervising its players. However, Okami Esports is still allowed to participate in the MPL MENA Fall 2023 Playoffs.

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It's actually quite unfortunate that we won't be seeing Team Occupy at the upcoming M5 World Championship. However, we will see a new face from the MENA region who will appear in the grand MLBB esports tournament instead.

Hopefully, this incident does not happen again in the future and in any region, and MLBB remains a major actor in creating a healthy esports ecosystem around the world.