Developer Riot Games has provided an update on its search for a new partner team for its VCT EMEA league. 10 organisations are said to be taking part in the application process as the league looks for a new team after Movistar KOI’s forced exit.
VCT EMEA partner team search
An update from EMEA’s Head of VALORANT Esports, Daniel Ringland, has provided some clarity on Riot’s search for a new VCT EMEA partner team.
In a post on X, Ringland revealed that 10 teams were invited to join the selection process last week following Movistar KOI’s departure, all of whom have existing ‘strong ties with VALORANT’, including the two sides relegated from the league this year, Gentle Mates and Apeks.
He added that the same selection criteria used when forming the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) in 2023 is being employed during this process, ‘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.
‘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.’
Gentle Mates roster building
Clarification from Riot comes after rumours began to circulate around the VCT EMEA selection process. According to a report from BoDork, the process was already underway and was to be ‘as thorough as possible’.
It was also reported that a number of those teams, Gentle Mates included, had ‘already begun the process of exploring staff and players’ and that the new team is expected to be chosen before VCT EMEA’s Ascension tournament, which is set to start on October 18th.
Movistar KOI kicked from VCT EMEA
The need to find a new partner team comes after Riot terminated its prior partnership agreement with Spanish organisation Movistar KOI. The company cited a contractual breach as the reason for termination — largely thought to be the team’s failure to fulfill co-streaming obligations.
Co-founded and co-owned by the immensely popular Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, KOI’s partnership contract was thought to have included obligations for Llanos to co-stream a minimum number of VCT games throughout the year.
With Llanos having largely stepped back from streaming in 2025, citing mental health difficulties as a reason to move to other forms of content, KOI had mostly employed other members of the organisation to appear on official co-streams. KOI Co-founder and Adam Adamou claimed that such changes brought positive results.
In his own reaction to the termination, Ibai expressed frustration at a perceived lack of warning from Riot as to the impact of his omission from co-streams, indicating that he felt that the decision to kick his team was made in order to allow the relegation Ascension side Gentle Mates to return in a permanent capacity.
Gentle Mates is also a streamer-led organisation, co-founded by French personality Lucas ‘Squeezie’ Hauchard. Unlike Ibai, Squeezie had been heavily involved with Gentle Mates’ VCT games this year, with the team’s games frequently amongst the most-watched despite their struggles competitively.
