The 21-year-old Danish player Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye has extended his stay with North, the organization revealed today, alongside news of a rebrand and restructuring.
Kjaerbye has been a part of North since the start of 2018, joining the squad from Astralis in a blockbuster move. Success has been limited in his two years with North, though, netting him just one Big event win, DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018, and a couple of DreamHack Open titles.
At his last event of 2019, Kjaerbye admitted that he "believed in the future of the team" and was "hoping to stay", and that has now been confirmed by the Danish organization. Currently, it is not certain for how long Kjaerbye extended his contract with North, only that he will be staying with the team moving forward.
"I am happy to have re-signed my contract with North. North came to me with an ambitious new plan for both the team and the organisation. The rebrand looks and feels great, and more importantly, the people in the organisation behind us are determined to succeed. All in all, this feels like the perfect home for me." - Kjaerbye
Alongside the news of Kjaerbye's re-signing, North have revealed that they have rebranded and restructured the organization. Alongside an updated logo and visual identity, North revealed their internal changes starting with new management that came on in October 2019.
"It became obvious that we needed to focus on a few critical elements in the very foundation of the organization that has been built. So we have changed the way we look at branding, marketing, and sports," - Alexander Pedersen, North CMO
The key to improving will be optimizing performance, North state, which will be done with the help of the newly appointed performance coach Christian Engell, who will work together with Head of Esports Operations Graham "messioso" Pitt
"Performance optimization has existed in sports forever. It is not something we or any other esports organization has invented. Still, it is something we strive to implement in an even more refined way. North is committed to staying in esports for the long run." Christopher Håkonsson, new CEO of North
As of now, North will continue with their end-of-2019 lineup:
Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye