針對 SadStory 資格取消發出正式聲明，希望未來不會再有類似事情發生。
針對台灣電競隊伍在預賽大勝日本隊後被取消參賽資格一事，ESL 聯盟相關人士在 Reddit 的 Counter Strike GlobalOffensice 討論版釋出正式聲明稿。
CS：GO IEM 2019 Katowice 資格賽劃分為 5 個子地區，這分別是中東、大洋洲、東亞、東南亞以及包含台港澳和中國在內大中華區，這次 SadStory 隊伍因報名至東亞區資格賽而在第一場賽事完成後被取消資格，原因是主辦單位到了資格賽開始以後才發現這一個問題所致，沒有任何政治因素在內。
ESL 未來將更積極、主動與報名隊伍進行溝通，以確保類似事件不再發生。
此外，ESL 也將擴大提大中華區封閉資格賽的參賽隊伍名額，以讓 SadStory 有另一個獲得參賽資格的機會；以下為 ESL 在 Reddit 釋出的聲明稿：
Providing the best competitive environment has always been our top priority for esports events and tournaments including the Intel Extreme Masters.
In the qualifiers for the IEM Katowice 2019 Asia Minor, we split the Asia region in a way that allowed teams to compete against each other conveniently across time zones and with the least latency. Considering the scale of IEM Katowice as a CS:GO Major, five sub-regions were created in Asia for the qualification: Middle East, Oceania, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Greater China Region, which includes Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Since our Asian qualifiers have not always been split into regions, team SadStory signed up to play in the East Asia qualifier. Based on the qualification structure in place for IEM Katowice they should have competed against teams participating in the Greater China Region (including Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan) qualifier to ensure low latency conditions.
Unfortunately, we only caught this after the Open Qualifier had started, which left the team no chance to switch over to their assigned regional Open Qualifier (Greater China Region including Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan) running at the same time. Instead, they faced a default loss.
We regret the assignment issue and have decided to expand the number of slots for the Closed Qualifier in the Greater China Region including Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan to give SadStory a direct slot to make sure they have a new opportunity to qualify for the event.
Moving forward we are going to make sure to communicate with teams in a more proactive manner specific to the region they are supposed to play in. We will also re-evaluate regional distribution in Asia for future tournament qualification.
– Michal Blicharz, Vice President of Pro Gaming, ESL
提供最佳的競賽環境一直是我們舉辦電競活動與賽事時的第一優先考量，而這當然也包括了英特爾極限高手盃大賽（IEM）在內。
在IEM 2019 Katowice 亞洲區次錦賽（Asia Minor）預賽的資格賽當中，我們定義亞洲地區的方式是希望能讓各個隊伍方便在跨不同的時區比賽，並盡可能減少延遲的問題。有鑑於CS:GO在IEM 2019 Katowice當中的賽事規模為特錦賽（Major）的等級，我們把亞洲的資格賽分為五個子地區，分別是：中東、大洋洲、東亞、東南亞和大中華地區，後者包括澳門、香港和台灣在內。
由於我們的亞洲區資格賽在過去並不一定會劃分不同的子地區進行，因此SadStory隊報名參加了東亞區資格賽。根據IEM Katowice的參賽資格結構，他們應該報名參加大中華地區（包括澳門，香港和台灣）的資格賽，以確保賽事的最低延遲條件。
遺憾的是，我們一直到了資格賽開始以後才發現了這一點，使得此隊伍沒有機會轉至同時進行的指定地區公開資格賽（包括中國、澳門、香港和台灣在內的地區），使得他們的比賽資格遭到取消。
對於此事，我們感到非常遺憾，並決定擴大在大中華地區（包括澳門、香港和台灣）封閉資格賽的參賽隊伍名額，以讓SadStory能有另一個獲得參賽資格的機會。
未來我們將確保以更積極主動的方式與戰隊們進行溝通，確保他們了解自己應該報名參賽的地區。我們也將針對未來的參賽資格重新評估亞洲的地區劃分方式。
– Michal Blicharz, Vice President of Pro Gaming, ESL