London-based Guild Esports have today announced their entry into Valorant, with the signing of an all-Swedish roster.
Guild’s Valorant team have been acquired from Swedish team Bonk. The players are as follows:
- Yacine ‘Yacine’ Laghmari
- Malkolm ‘bonkar’ Rench
- Leo ‘Leo’ Janneson (aka ziz)
- William ‘draken’ Sundin
- Filip ‘Goffe’ Gauffin
In early November the team will compete in First Strike, Riot Games’ debut esports tournament for Valorant.
The team have finished in the top two in the recent Ignition Series and Mandatory.gg Cup tournaments.
Yacine, draken and Goffe are former CSGO players, while Leo is the young gun of the team aged 16. In addition, bonkar is a former Paladins player and has won two Paladins World Championships.
This announcement marks Guild’s first step into dedicated PC-based esports, following their launch into Rocket League and FIFA earlier this year.
“We have high ambitions for our top-calibre team in the upcoming First Strike tournament. We are proud to welcome the players to our Guild family where we will coach and support them to become world champions.”
Carleton Curtis, Guild Esports
The news comes after Guild were valued at £41.2m and listed on the London Stock Exchange, with shareholder and face of the brand, David Beckham, saying they want to be ‘the number one esports team’.
Guild also recently announced a £3.6m sponsorship deal with a to-be-announced company. It’s also been reported that Guild agreed to pay Becks $20m before he became an investor.
Guild say they’re developing a talent pipeline in the UK based on the traditional academy model, ‘which will see the most able players such as Valorant amateurs scouted by Guild’s talent scout network and coached by industry leaders, in order to attain the skillset required to win and take their careers to the next level’.
Carleton Curtis, executive chairman at Guild, commented: “Joining the Valorant community is a perfect step for Guild and we are delighted to expand into the new exciting and emerging esports space.
“With these signings, Guild has established itself as a multi-disciplinary esports business and we are looking forward to fielding rosters in new games as we continue to scale and invest in our business utilising the war chest we raised in our IPO.
“We have high ambitions for our top-calibre team in the upcoming First Strike tournament. We are proud to welcome the players to our Guild family where we will coach and support them to become world champions.”
Yacine Laghmari ‘Yacine’, pro Valorant player at Guild, added: “Valorant is one of the most dynamic esports out there and being in Guild’s first Valorant roster is an exciting opportunity. I’m looking forward to playing my part in the future of Guild and the team.
“Our team has already proved itself at a top level and now the goal is to become world champions.”
Guild are currently fourth in the EU Valorant rankings, below G2, FunPlus Phoenix and SUMN FC.
The UK has a good base of Valorant talent. There are players on Dignitas, Team Liquid, SUMN FC (who recently won epic.LAN), Rix and more.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
