Drone Sports: The Russian DCL Team’s Record and What Happened Next

Drone Sports’ best day in the Drone Champions League was also, as far as the record shows, one of its last. At the 2021 season finale, the Russian team, then racing as Drone Sports Global, reached the final rounds for the first time. It lost the Small Final 18–12 to America’s Quad Force One.

The same weekend, its pilot Ksenia Mosina finished third in the league’s Women’s Cup standings. Raiden Racing’s Evan Desautels and XBlades’ Luisa Rizzo finished ahead of her, according to the DCL’s finale report. Then the team dropped off the grid.

Drone Sports team profile

• Country: Russia
• League: Drone Champions League (DCL)
• DCL debut: 2019
• Best result: 2021 Small Final, lost 18–12 to Quad Force One
• Status: absent from every DCL grid we checked since 2021

From debut to the 2021 final rounds

Drone Sports joined the DCL in 2019 with a roster drawn from Russia’s domestic FPV scene, one of the deepest in Europe at the time. Its first season brought podium finishes but no race wins against an XBlades team that was collecting titles every year.

The 2021 season was the team’s best. Raced largely on DCL’s simulator, it saw Drone Sports Global break into the final rounds for the first time. Quad Force One beat them for third overall, and XBlades and Raiden Racing went into the last race tied on 1,100 points. Raiden took the title.

The Women’s Cup result

Mosina’s third place in the 2021 Women’s Cup is the team’s most concrete individual honor in the DCL record. Desautels, the winner, led the standings all season; Rizzo flew for XBlades.

What happened to Drone Sports

When the DCL announced its 2022 calendar and teams, it named Raiden Racing, XBlades, Quad Force One, China Dragons, Korea’s Super Sonic X and Spain’s SDT Perpetuumcoin. Drone Sports was not among them, and the team has not appeared on any later grid we checked.

The league itself has not announced a ban. Its statement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict says it follows the IOC’s position. It will not discriminate against pilots or teams who share its values, “no matter their nationality.” We have found no DCL announcement explaining the team’s absence, so we report it as inactive.

Who fills the gap now

The 2026 DCL grid has a different eastern flank. Kazakhstan’s Aspan races in the Cups, with Alikhan_fpv flying its seeding run in January. Aspan finished fifth in the 2026 Falcon Cup, which Vexcel Spain Drone Team won.

The same pilot is making headlines outside the DCL. At the 2026 MultiGP Championship in Texas, Alikhan “Alikhanfpv” Nsanbaev finished fifth in the A Main. He is 12. Our MultiGP finals report covers the full results, and the drone racing teams hub profiles every active team.

The 2026 DCL field

Drone Sports in the DCL timeline

• 2019: DCL debut; podium finishes but no race wins in an XBlades-dominated season.
• 2020: the league moves online, racing on its own simulator, with the World Championship decided at a virtual Lake Zurich.
• 2021: as Drone Sports Global, reaches the final rounds for the first time; loses the Small Final 18–12 to Quad Force One. Ksenia Mosina third in the Women’s Cup.
• 2022: not among the teams named for the season.
• 2026: not on the six-team Cup grid.

Why the Women’s Cup mattered

The 2021 Women’s Cup gave the DCL a second championship to follow, and Raiden Racing’s Evan Desautels won the first edition. Drone Sports had never won a DCL race, so a podium in that standings table was a real result. It is one of the few the team’s history records from its final season.

Russian pilots have not vanished from FPV racing. They have simply left the DCL’s team grid. For anyone following form, the international open events, where pilots enter as individuals, are now the better guide to where talent sits.

How DCL scoring works now

If Drone Sports or any new team joins the grid, this is the system it enters. Each Cup awards championship points by final ranking. In the 2026 Falcon Cup, published by the league, the scale ran 10, 8, 7, 6, 4 and 3 points from first to sixth. Three Cups feed the Super Final, so a team that finishes fourth every time can still contend. A single Cup win is worth only two points more than second place.

That rewards consistency, the quality Drone Sports showed in 2021 when it reached the final rounds without having won a race.

Betting on Drone Sports: what exists

DraftKings’ drone racing deal, signed in 2021, was with the Drone Racing League, a separate series built around individual pilots. It never covered DCL teams.

There is no market for Drone Sports today. We found no US sportsbook or prediction market listing DCL races. For machine-sports and AI outcomes that do trade, start with our prediction markets hub, and check US drone betting sites for anything currently priced.

Trading event contracts involves risk of loss. Availability varies by state, and several states are challenging prediction markets in court. 21+ for sportsbooks. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.