Pioneer in women’s esports ends career – How zAAz became a role model

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The Swede was drawn to esports at a young age and her unassailable ambition took her far. Now she puts mouse and keyboard aside.

At the age of 30, Zainab “zAAz” Turkie has announced the end of her esport career on 19 May 2022. She was one of the pioneers of the female Counter-Strike scene and paved the way for many female players as a role model. Later, she also proved her undisputed class in VALORANT. Although she is ending her career as a player, she does not want to disappear completely from the scene yet.

The first steps in Counter-Strike 1.5

At the age of just eleven, zAAz discovered the game Counter-Strike for himself. It all started in 2002 with version 1.5 until shortly after, a year later, 1.6, probably the most popular Counter-Strike version of the time, was released. She realised early on that she had a lot of potential and that she would like to be one of the best players in the world one day.

For this reason, zAAz joined a female Counter-Strike team for the first time in 2005. Two years later, she celebrated the first tournament victory of her career with the Swedish team unFinished. On home soil in Jönköping, they won the DreamHack Summer 2007 title and €2000 in prize money.

Further career stations followed with well-known teams such as Meet Your Makers, Fnatic or Alternate Attax. Here, too, it became apparent that zAAz was able to prove herself among the best players in Europe. With the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2012, a new era in video game history began, which would also have a great influence on the Swede.

Unchallenged world leader in CS:GO

Under the organisation Bad Monkey Gaming and later as the orgless team WeRunThisPlace (WRTP), the Swede’s career really took off again from 2014. Due to sensational successes at major tournaments such as the Intel Challenge Katowice or the Copenhagen Games, the team around zAAz attracted attention.

On 18 March 2016, zAAz and her comrades were consequently signed by European esports organisation Team Secret as their new CS:GO roster. Although parts of the roster have changed slightly over the years, the team around zAAz and her best friend Julia “juliano” Kiran has always been able to keep up with the world’s best. They had a thrilling duel with the Americans from CLG Red at many tournaments.

Until May 2021, the Swede went through other well-known organisations with Dynasty Gaming, Besiktas Esports and XSET. In total, she had been active in the scene as a player for almost 20 years by the end of her CS:GO career. But that’s not all.

Culminating career in VALORANT

Parallel to this, zAAz and co naturally took notice of the then-new Riot shooter VALORANT. As THE ORIGINALS, the team spent a few more months without an organisation. Then in October 2021, a few months after the Counter-Strike retirement, a new project was born with G2 Gozen.

Under the banner of G2 Esports, old acquaintances had reunited to form a team that found itself among the best female teams at the start of the VALORANT Esports scene, along with Oxygen Esports and TENSTAR. In the Game Changers tournaments of 2022, G2 even managed to gain the upper hand, winning prize money of €10,000 each twice.

With the team’s recent 3-0 victory in the Series II final against Guild X, the Swedish-Lebanese player achieved a sensational and crowning finish to an eventful esports career. She will be replaced by Bahraini player Maryam Maher, who previously played for Team ChatBanned.

Sports continue to take centre stage

However, she does not want to say goodbye to esports altogether. She has long dreamed of working with children and young people after her career. The main focus will be on educational work about shooters like Counter-Strike or VALORANT as well as gaming and esports in general.

Furthermore, she wants to go in search of the stars of tomorrow and contribute to the development of young female gamers. She wants to share her passion and the experience she has gained with them. For the job, she will return to her home in Malmö, Sweden.