NiP reveal Young Ninjas roster

The Swedish organization has announced the four players that are joining Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson in the academy team.

The Young Ninjas roster has been set by Ninjas in Pyjamas, who had shown a small preview in December of 2020 with the announcement of coach Frederik "⁠JAEGARN⁠" Andersson and ztr, the team's in-game leader.

Joining the 17-year-old shot-caller in the starting lineup are Tim "⁠Mann3n⁠" Isak, Anton "⁠Sapec⁠" Palmgren, and former flowskola duo Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman and Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant.

Ninjas in Pyjamas's ambition to foster grassroots talent was announced in late 2020 with the creation of Path of a Ninja, a program for players before they join academy teams. Not long after that, however, the Swedish organization stated that the project had evolved and would be "an Academy Team banner for a wider pool of talents to play under" instead of them picking out just one or two players from every Eliteserien season.

"Embarking on the journey of academy squads while focusing on providing extra value to the Swedish grassroots is one of the most exciting things we’ve done for a while," says Jonas Gundersen, NiP’s Chief Operating Officer. "The guys we’ve picked here are a great mix of leadership, talent and raw skill. It’s our ambition that the Young Ninjas will be the pathway into the A team in the future, and we’ve got a lot of formidably interesting tournaments lined up for the guys to prove themselves in. Can’t wait to see this project evolve over the next years - we’re in it for the long run!"

Having completed their roster, Young Ninjas are now ready to compete, and will start their journey on Friday at 19:00 against Project X in the first round of the Shadow League Season 1's Swiss stage.

Young Ninjas are:

Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson
Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman
Tim "⁠Mann3n⁠" Isak
Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant
Anton "⁠Sapec⁠" Palmgren

Frederik "⁠JAEGARN⁠" Andersson (coach)