2026 VCT rostermania: Every tier one VALORANT roster move

As the VALORANT competitive scene heads towards the OFF//SEASON, multiple VCT teams have started making roster changes in preparation for the 2026 season.

While some are replacing only a few players, others are opting for a total rebuild, which includes bringing in a fresh coaching staff as well.

Esports Insider is keeping track of VCT rostermania and has listed every roster move below across all International Leagues.

Disclaimer: As the off-season continues, Esports Insider will update this article when any new roster changes are confirmed. First published: September 30th, 2025

It has been two years since 100 Thieves’ last appearance at VALORANT Champions, and even though the team got off to a promising start in 2025, it could not carry its momentum through the rest of the season.

100 Thieves therefore announced a major roster rebuild, allowing every member of the roster to explore options as it re-evaluates its future plans. Moving forward, the team has officially let go of its IGL Kelden ‘Boostio‘ Pupello, Anthony ‘Zikz‘ Gray, Alexander ‘Zander‘ Dituri and Drew ‘Kess‘ Lee.

The full roster for VCT 2026 season consists of Peter ‘Asuna‘ Mazuryk, Matthew ‘Cryocells‘ Panganiban, Laurynas ‘Nbs‘ Kisielius (Head Coach), Erik ‘d00mbr0s‘ Sandgren (Assistant Coach), Timothée ‘Timotino‘ Lavigne Dupont, Jordan ‘vora‘ Pulwer, and Sean ‘bang‘ Bezerra.

Cloud9 hasn’t participated in an international VCT event since LOCK//IN 2023, and with 2025 being another disappointing season, the organisation has parted ways with Michael ‘neT‘ Bernet. Jordan ‘Zellsis‘ Montemurro and Erik ‘penny‘ Penny have joined the team.

Evil Geniuses is looking to rebuild its roster ahead of the 2026 VCT season, according to Derrek ‘Derrek‘ Ha. As a result, the organisation has parted ways with him, Jaccob ‘yay‘ Whiteaker, and Jacob ‘icy‘ Lange to explore new options.

The team’s strategic coach, Martin ‘Anderzz‘ Schelasin, is now a free agent as his contract has ended. That said, he is still in discussions with the organisation regarding a potential renewal.

Davi ‘Palla‘ Alcides, Victor ‘Urango‘ Rodrigues and Olavo ‘heat‘ Marcelo have been released from the line-up following one of the poorest performances among all VCT Americas teams in 2025. Arthur ‘tuyz‘ Vieira, on the other hand, is officially a free agent.

Marco ‘Melser‘ Machuca and Fabian ‘Shyy‘ Usnayo’s contracts have expired and they are open to new opportunities, while Angelo ‘keznit‘ Mori is a restricted free agent. The team’s head coach, Jorge ‘Atom‘ Noriega, and Strategic Coach, Alan ‘ddx‘ Salvati, are in the same situation as well.

Leviatán finished third at VALORANT Champions 2024; however, it didn’t qualify for a single international VCT event this year, forcing the organisation to make changes.

As a result, three players i.e. Ian ‘tex‘ Botsch, Corbin ‘C0M‘ Lee, and Anthony ‘okeanos‘ Nguyen, along with head coach Casper ‘Desmo‘ Rasmussen have been allowed to explore options for the 2026 VCT season as free agents.

The Assistant Coach meco1e left the coaching staff before them and as of this writing, there have been no confirmed incomings.

LOUD has consistently stayed one of the contenders for VCT trophies; however, the 2025 season didn’t go as planned. As a result, Robbie ‘RobbieBk‘ Boerkamp, head coach Kaan ‘Leader‘ Taşpınar and the assistant coach Matheus ‘mat‘ Dourado have parted ways with the team.

Despite having an incredible run at VALORANT Champions 2025, MIBR has allowed Arthur ‘artzin‘ Araujo to explore options as a free agent, while Gabriel ‘cortezia‘ Cortez is now a restricted free agent.

NRG won its first ever VCT trophy in the form of VALORANT Champions Paris and ending his competitive career on a high note, Sam ‘s0m‘ Oh has left the team to take a break.

Sentinels’ CEO, Rob Moore hinted at roster changes after the team’s disappointing performance at VALORANT Champions Paris. Recently, the organisation has announced the departure of Sean ‘bang‘ Bezerra and Jordan ‘Zellsis‘ Montemurro ahead of VCT 2026.

Soon after that, the team’s duelist Zachary ‘zekken‘ Patrone also parted ways, with Yassin ‘reduxx‘ Aboulalazm moving to the starting roster. SEN’s VCT 2026 roster was completed with the joining of Mirel ‘Kyu‘ Hrustemovic and Gabriel ‘cortezia‘ Cortez.

ENVY hasn’t announced any roster changes yet.

Despite finishing fourth in EMEA Stage 1 and third in Stage 2, BBL Esports was unable to qualify for Champions Paris because it did not accumulate enough Championship Points.

Following that, Martin ‘Magnum‘ Peňkov and roster’s coach Manuel ‘thinkii‘ Martínez are looking for a new team; however, he is still in negotiations with the organisation. The roster’s Analyst, Dario ‘ZaeS‘ Gomez, on the other hand, is now a free agent.

One of VALORANT’s most impactful players, Leo ‘Leo‘ Jannesson, has retired from the game due to undisclosed health issues. The player had not returned to the active roster since June 2024 and is now no longer part of the organisation. As of right now, no member in Fnatic’s current starting line-up has been changed.

Mehmet ‘cNed‘ İpek’s contract will expire at the end of 2025, and he is now exploring his options for 2026. Ivan ‘Johnta‘ Shevtsov has also parted ways with the team after just three months of tenure, and Eray ‘GAIS‘ Sarıkaya has moved back to the head coach position.

As a result, Uğurcan ‘Anima‘ Aydin joins as a stand-in, and Ata ‘ATA KAPTAN‘ Tan has moved to the active roster. Team’s assistant coach, Alp ‘sw4y‘ Özkuvancı is also looking for a new roster to join.

Gentle Mates has been selected to take KOI’s place in VCT for 2026 and the organisation has allowed its analyst Josh ‘jtay‘ Taylor, Yusuf Emre ‘Proxh‘ Tunc, and Maks ‘kamyk‘ Rychlewski to explore options as a free agent.

Despite an underwhelming start to the 2025 VCT season, the roster changes made ahead of EMEA Stage 2 helped GIANTX achieve a second-place finish. Not only this, but the team performed tremendously well at VALORANT Champions 2025 against giants such as Sentinels.

As a result, the organisation has extended the contracts of Karel ‘Flickless‘ Maeckelbergh, Eduard-George ‘ara‘ Hanceriuc, and Grzegorz ‘GRUBINHO‘ Ryczko until the end of 2026.

Artur ‘pyrolll‘ Minin joined Karmine Corp ahead of VCT EMEA Stage 2, but the team could not qualify for Champions Paris. Hence, he is open to offers from other teams, while still being under contract with the organisation.

Riot Games has announced that KOI will not be a VCT partner team going into 2026, citing “inconsistent performance and failure to meet certain obligations” as reasons. As a result, the roster was immediately disbanded, as announced by the organisation’s CEO, Adam Adamou.

Kyrylo ‘ANGE1‘ Karasov has decided to retire from competitive VALORANT as a player after a five-year career in the game. However, he will be looking to join a team as a coach next year.

Dominykas ‘MiniBoo‘ Lukaševičius, Team Heretics’ duelist, has decided to step down from the team and is looking for a new organisation to join.

Debuting in VCT with Team Heretics, Patryk ‘paTiTek‘ Fabrowski moved to Team Liquid in 2025 and is now open to offers from other organisations for the upcoming season while still being under contract with TL.

Blendi ‘kovaQ‘ Kovaci and Clément ‘CyvOph‘ Millard‘s contracts will expire at the end of 2026; however, Team Vitality has allowed them to explore new opportunities as restricted free agents.

All other VCT EMEA teams have yet to announce any roster changes.

DetonatioN FocusMe’s IGL Koki ‘Art‘ Kagami and Kim ‘Jinboong‘ Jin-won have left the team after nearly a year. While the team showed slight improvement during the 2025 VCT season, it was not enough to reach an international VCT event since 2023.

The organisation has announced the departure of Park ‘Estrella‘ Geon as his contract comes to an end. Kang ‘BeYN‘ Ha-bin, on the other hand, has signed an extension until the end of 2027.

With the end of 2025 VCT season, the contracts of most of the team members expired. These include Kim ‘t3xture‘ Na-ra, Byeon ‘Munchkin‘ Sang-beom, Kim ‘Karon‘ Won-tae, Kim ‘Lakia‘ Jong-min, head coach Kang ‘solo‘ Keun-chul, assistant coach Jung ‘peri‘ Beom-gi, and head of strategy Kim ‘HSK‘ Hae-seong. However, the team has renewed contracts with solo and HSK.

After another year of falling short of expectations, Global Esports has removed Platoon from the analyst position.

Ashton ‘Wendler‘ Wendler joined Paper Rex to help the team with its VALORANT Champions run and is now seeking a full-time head coach or assistant coach position. The organisation has also announced the departure of Aaron ‘mindfreak‘ Leonhart after he was moved to the inactive roster in July 2025.

After a tenure of three years, RRQ’s head coach, Marthinus ‘Ewok‘ Walt, has parted ways with the organisation.

Ko ‘Sylvan‘ Young-sub, head coach Yoon ‘Autumn‘ Eu-teum, and Seol ‘indigo‘ Do-hoon‘s contract with T1 has ended after a year, and the organisation has chosen not to renew it further. As a result, both sides have parted ways.

TALON’s head coach, Hector ‘FrosT‘ Rosario has announced that he is now an unrestricted free agent. After almost two years at the organisation, it has been decided that TALON will not renew his contract further. Similarly, the team’s assistant coach, Jovanni ‘Jovi‘ Vera, is also a free agent.

After being moved to an inactive position in May 2025, Jeremy ‘Jremy‘ Cabrera has left Team Secret and is looking for new offers. Soon after, the roster’s IGL, Sha ‘ZesBeeW‘ Mohtar, Brheyanne ‘Wild0reoo‘ Reyes, and Nguyễn ‘n1zzy‘ Tấn Thành also parted ways ahead of the next season.

ZETA DIVISION has opened applications for its 2026 VCT roster to recruit players, coaches, and analysts. A few days after the announcement, Kim ‘TenTen‘ Tae-young, Hikaru ‘CLZ‘ Mizutani, and assistant coach Carlos ‘Carlão‘ Mohn revealed that they are now free agents.

All other VCT Pacific teams have yet to announce any roster changes.

After spending almost two years with the team, Delbert ‘deLb‘ Tanoto is allowed to explore options for 2026 VCT season.

Despite excellent performances across all tournaments in VCT China, Bilibili Gaming failed to carry the momentum into international events. Following the team’s 2025 VCT run, its head coach, Lee ‘bail‘ Sung-jae, is no longer a part of the roster.

VALORANT Champions 2024 winner, EDward Gaming, has allowed its head coach, Tang ‘Muggle‘ Shijun, to explore options for next year. The roster finished third at Masters Bangkok; however, it failed to even qualify for the next international VCT event, Masters Toronto. Though EDG made it to Champions Paris, the team was eliminated from the event without a single series win.

Chen ‘XII‘ Yen-hsiang has announced free agency after his departure from FPX and is looking for offers from other teams.

Wendler joined JD Gaming ahead of VCT China Stage 2 as an Assistant Coach. However, after the team’s season ended with just a single series win, he and the organisation have “mutually parted ways.”

Mohammad Ali ‘Swerl‘ Kobraee was moved to the inactive position almost a year after him joining Nova Esports and he has now been released from the organisation.

TEC hasn’t announced any roster changes yet.

After a short stay of about three months with the roster, Zhao ‘Xlele‘ Yanbo, has left the team to join Thunder Gaming.

TYLOO showed noticeable improvement in China Stage 2, reaching the second round of playoffs. However, the team still fell short in terms of overall Championship Points rankings. Moving forward, with an aim to improve, the organisation has added Moses ‘Splash‘ Jonathan to its roster and released Ding ‘Ninebody‘ Yi.

Wolves Esports’ insane performance at Masters Toronto caught everyone by surprise. However, the team couldn’t carry the momentum forward gained on the international stage.

As a result, the organisation has allowed Huang ‘Yuicaw‘ Yung-chieh, Liang ‘Lysoar‘ Youhao and Tyler ‘juicy‘ Aeria to look for new opportunities ahead of the 2026 VCT season. At the moment, the team is looking to import a support player from another region before the start of OFF//SEASON.

The 2024 VCT Ascension China winner, XLG Esports, has extended its stay in the International League for another year. However, its head coach Aleksandr ‘hvoya‘ Eremin is looking for more offers for next year as his contract will expire at the end of 2025. That said, he is still in talks with the Chinese organisation regarding a potential renewal.

All other VCT China teams have yet to announce any roster changes.