Head of Valorant esports provides update on open VCT EMEA slot – Who could replace Movistar KOI?

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 22/09/2025

Daniel Ringland, Head of Valorant Esports in the EMEA region, has provided an update regarding the open partner slot in VCT EMEA following the shocking removal of KOI from VCT.

Ringland outlined the process by which candidates would be selected, stating that 10 organisations had been invited to the process.

Ringland stated in the update that, “We invited ten orgs with strong ties to Valorant Esports in EMEA – including our outgoing visitor teams and Ascension teams – to participate in the selection process.”

Outgoing teams for EMEA include Gentle Mates and Apeks, who were both relegated following EMEA Stage 2.

Ringland’s post continues, “We’re using the same selection criteria we used when we launched the partnership program in 2023 – looking at factors such as competitive operations, fandom and community engagement, marketing capabilities, and overall operational readiness. Our goal is to find an organisation that can help grow the sport and have a meaningful impact on the ecosystem next year.”

Ringland then outlined the timeline, naming a date by which to expect the announcement, “We’ve received a number of strong proposals and will be working through them over the coming weeks. We plan to reveal the selected team in October.”

Who could replace KOI in VCT EMEA?

There is a widespread belief that the recently relegated organisation, Gentle Mates, will be the beneficiary of the open slot.

The idea that Valorant may intervene to save Gentle Mates from relegation predates KOI’s removal from the league.

Shortly after Gentle Mates’ relegation, Valorant head at Gentle Mates, Marceau ‘Placido’ Lambert, tweeted, “Beyond the uncertain future of Gentle Mates in VCT, I sincerely hope that Riot will make the right decisions to preserve Valorant esports.” The statement led to speculation that there were options for intervention.

Gentle Mates, a hugely popular French organisation, may draw enough eyeballs for Riot to consider their status.

Data from Esports Charts corroborates that idea, with Gentle Mates’ matches being some of the most-watched VCT EMEA matches.

Gentle Mates matches feature five times in the top 10 watched contests of EMEA in 2025, despite the contests only being group stage contests.

Despite potentially aligning with Riot’s strategic goals, Ringland’s statement indicates that no final decision has been reached regarding Gentle Mates.

In truth, it is hard to say whether Gentle Mates are guaranteed the spot despite the intense speculation.

Riot has never publicly communicated what exact metrics partners have met to allow for their admission to the programme, nor do they publicly share the partnership agreements once a team is admitted.

Speculation surrounding Movistar KOI’s removal as a partner points to there being no one specific ruleset for all teams to follow, but bespoke metrics and performance indicators per partner.

Such an arrangement explains the speculation surrounding KOI, with Co-founder Ibai Llanos reportedly sharing on stream that one of the reasons for the termination of their partnership was Ibai’s personal failure to co-stream officials.

As part of the planning for VCT 2023, Riot reportedly rejected applications from historically popular and competitively successful orgs such as G2, OpTic Gaming, Shopify Rebellion, and Nigma Galaxy.

Outside of Gentle Mates, several other notable esports organisations currently sit in VCT Challengers, including Mouz (EMEA), Twisted Minds (EMEA), Shopify Rebellion Black (Americas), TSM (Americas), and Envy (Americas).

Whether any of those organisations are part of the shortlist is unknown.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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