The Ukrainian esports organization NAVI, like other leading clubs on the global stage, is developing its own system for training young players. The NAVI Academy has become one of the key elements of the club’s strategy, aimed not only at discovering new talent but also at building a stable talent pool for its professional teams.
Representatives of the esports industry have repeatedly noted the effectiveness of NAVI’s approach to developing young players. In particular, Ukrainian coach Serhiy “lmbt” Bezhanov, who has worked with leading teams and is currently involved with the MOUZ NXT academy, has called NAVI’s training system one of the most successful models in esports.
Over the years, the organization has repeatedly used its own academy as a source of talent for its main rosters. NAVI’s trainees have been given the opportunity to advance to the professional level, while the club itself has been able to develop its own players and execute transfer deals. Such transactions demonstrate that an academy system can be not only a sporting asset but also an economic one for the organization.
Although the value of NAVI’s transfer deals is not disclosed, over the years the organization has developed a diversified approach to managing its assets. These include not only tournament prize money but also advertising contracts, partnership agreements, royalties, media projects, and player transfers.
The academic program plays a special role in this system, allowing NAVI to independently develop promising players, build a talent pool for its main teams, and potentially reap financial benefits from the future transfers of its players to other teams.
The History of the Development of the NAVI Academic Program
NAVI’s academic division began to take shape in 2019 with the launch of NAVI Esports Camp—a program for young CS:GO players aged 16–19. On May 4 of that same year, the organization established NAVI Junior, which became a platform for developing promising esports athletes. The project later evolved into a full-fledged academic system, NAVI Academy, focused on scouting and training new players.
In the following years, NAVI continued to expand its academic initiatives: in 2022, NAVI Youth was launched for Dota 2, and in 2024, the NAVI Visa Academy project began to scout talent in Counter-Strike 2. In 2026, the organization launched an academic initiative in Valorant as well, continuing to develop its system for training young players across various esports disciplines.
Following a change in ownership and the arrival of Ukrainian entrepreneur Maksym Krippa, NAVI began actively scaling up its operations, which also had an impact on the development of its academy program. The academies became not only a tool for preparing players for the main rosters but also part of the club’s broader strategy to develop its own ecosystem.
NAVI’s players who have made their mark on the global esports scene
Throughout the history of the NAVI academy system, a significant number of players have passed through its ranks, going on to become prominent figures on the professional scene. Among them are b1t, makazze, headtr1ck, npl, fear, and other esports athletes. Some of them were given the opportunity to secure a spot on NAVI’s main roster, while others continued their careers with leading international organizations.
Currently, players who have come through the NAVI system are represented on the rosters of various professional teams, including NAVI, B8, Fnatic, Falcons, Inner Circle, and other organizations. Thus, the academy serves not only as the club’s internal talent pool but also as a mechanism for developing players who remain competitive at the international level.
In Dota 2, NAVI also promoted its youth roster, NAVI Junior, to the main team after the squad qualified for The International. As a result, pma, gotthejuice, Niku, and Riddys became members of the main roster.
One of the most telling examples of how this system works was the sale of the NAVI Junior roster to the Turkish organization FUT Esports. As part of the deal, the club transferred four players and a coach. NAVI explained this decision by noting that the team had reached its maximum potential within the academy and needed to move on to the next stage of their careers. Although the transfer fee was not disclosed, the deal served as an example of how investing in a youth roster can create added value for an organization.
NAVI Academy by the Numbers
The effectiveness of NAVI’s academy program can be assessed based on publicly available statistics—the number of applications, tournament participation, and prize money earned by the youth teams. Since the inception of NAVI’s academy teams in Counter-Strike, Dota 2, and Valorant, they have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in tournament prize money.
In Counter-Strike 2, NAVI’s academy team has earned approximately $403,500 in prize money over the entire period of its competitions; in Dota 2, approximately $214,700; and in Valorant, nearly $3,000 in the first few months after the project’s launch.
A separate indicator of the scale of the academy system is the number of applicants seeking to join it. Since the launch of NAVI’s youth projects, the organization has received several thousand applications from players eager to join its ranks. For example, when NAVI Visa Academy launched in 2024 for Counter-Strike 2, the club received over 350 applications and selected the ten most talented players, aged 14 to 17, to participate in a three-week boot camp in Berlin.
The age range of participants in NAVI’s academic programs typically depends on the discipline: in Counter-Strike and Dota 2, young players are mostly in the 14–17 age group, while in Valorant, players aged 17 to 20 are recruited for the academic project. The NAVI Junior and NAVI Youth teams also regularly participate in prestigious tournaments, including the UESF Ukrainian Championship, YaLLa Compass Qatar, and other competitions.
Since the organization’s inception in 2009, NAVI teams across all esports disciplines—including its academy teams—have earned approximately $24.9 million in prize money, according to publicly available statistics. This demonstrates the scale of the club’s ecosystem, where the academy program is an integral part of NAVI’s overall sports and business model.