The partner teams for the next VCT cycle are almost all known, and the cut from ten to eight teams per region has hit some of Valorant’s biggest names. Masters Santiago winners Nongshim RedForce, Cloud9, NAVI and FURIA are all out, and Cloud9 have already started letting players go.
The current VCT partnership agreements ended with Champions Shanghai, and over the last two days the organisations have been announcing one by one whether Riot Games picked them for the next cycle. The new deals run for two years, 2027 and 2028, and each of the four regions has eight partner teams instead of the previous ten plus two promoted teams from Ascension.
By Tuesday morning, 26 of the 32 partners had confirmed their places themselves. China and EMEA are complete. In the Americas, NRG are the only reported partner without an announcement of their own, and in the Pacific only three teams have confirmed so far.
Who is in and who is out
| Region | Partners for 2027 and 2028 | Not selected |
|---|---|---|
| Americas |  LOUD, Sentinels, KRÜ Esports,  G2 Esports, LEVIATÁN,  100 Thieves,  MIBR,  NRG (reported) |  Cloud9,  FURIA, ENVY,  FlyQuest, Shopify Rebellion,  M80, LYON |
| EMEA |  Team Heretics, BBL Esports,  Team Vitality,  Team Liquid,  Gentle Mates,  Karmine Corp,  FUT Esports,  FNATIC |  NAVI, GIANTX, Barça eSports, Eintracht Frankfurt, Movistar KOI (reported) |
| Pacific | RRQ, ZETA DIVISION, Gen.G,  Paper Rex (reported),  T1 (reported), FULL SENSE (reported), Crazy Raccoon (reported) |  Nongshim RedForce, KIWOOM DRX, DetonatioN FocusMe, BOOM Esports,  Global Esports |
| China |  EDward Gaming,  TYLOO, Weibo Gaming,  Xi Lai Gaming, All Gamers,  JD Gaming, Trace Esports, Bilibili Gaming | FunPlus Phoenix, Nova Esports, Titan Esports Club, Wolves Esports (all reported) |
Teams marked “reported” have not announced their status themselves but are on the full list published by Sheep Esports. That list names seven Pacific partners, so one Pacific slot is still unaccounted for. In Japan, RIDDLE ORDER have not confirmed whether they applied, but have announced that they are suspending their Valorant operations.
A Masters champion without a seat
The most striking name on the list of teams left out is Nongshim RedForce. In March they beat Paper Rex 3-0 in the grand final of Masters Santiago, the organisation’s first international title. They also finished third at the Esports World Cup, second in Pacific Stage 2 and reached the playoffs at Champions Shanghai, where they lost to Team Vitality and 100 Thieves.
CEO Evans Oh announced the decision himself in the early hours of Monday, European time. He wrote that the organisation had submitted a proposal of more than 110 slides and that the process was “exceptionally thorough and fair”, but he did not hide what the decision means.
The extra financial support and advantages in player recruitment available to partner teams will create a meaningful gap between us.
Nongshim RedForce will stay in Valorant and try to earn a place through the open circuit. The same goes for KIWOOM DRX, who have been in Valorant since 2020, first as Vision Strikers. “For whatever comes next, see you all in VCT 2027,” the organisation wrote.
Both teams in the Pacific Stage 2 grand final are now out of the partnership. Nongshim RedForce lost that final 3-2 to Global Esports, and Global Esports are not coming back at all. Founder Rushindra Sinha has closed the team side of the organisation, and Global Esports are leaving esports to become an AI studio.
Cloud9 out, but not leaving
In the Americas, the biggest name without a seat is Cloud9, who have been a partner team since the league system started in 2023. Their 2026 season was poor: they did not reach the playoffs in either Americas stage and played no international event.
Cloud9 were among the first to announce the news, in the early hours of Monday European time, and made a point of saying they are staying.
In the statement, Cloud9 wrote that they had already been holding open tryouts “with 10-man lobbies to build a roster to compete in the open qualifiers”. The current roster is coming apart in the meantime. According to VLR, Cloud9 have allowed initiator Jackk, who is under contract until the end of 2028, and controller player v1c to explore their options, and head coach Veer will enter free agency. Veer told VLR that he is “open to all regions as a head coach or assistant coach”, including a team going through the open qualifiers.
ENVY, FlyQuest, Shopify Rebellion and M80 also missed out in North America. ENVY owner Hastr0 has said the organisation will stay in Valorant, according to VLR. In Mexico, LYON were turned down for the second partnership cycle in a row. Owner Emmanuel Neyra wrote that the decision once again leaves the LATAM North sub-region without a partner team.
Two big CS organisations out
NAVI and FURIA, two of the biggest organisations in Counter-Strike, are both leaving the partner system after four years.
NAVI’s statement was unusually frank about why. The organisation wrote that “our recent competitive results have fallen short of our expectations”. NAVI did not reach an international event in 2026 and went out in the play-ins of EMEA Stage 2. The focus now moves to NAVI Junior, the academy roster from the organisation’s own Academy project, which will play in the qualifiers for the EMEA Kickoff.
FURIA were much less calm about it. The Brazilian organisation, which reached Masters Santiago this year, received the decision “with profound disappointment” and wrote that it “expected a different recognition” of what it had built in Valorant.
Unlike Cloud9, NAVI and Nongshim RedForce, FURIA have not promised to stay. “As for VALORANT, we have not yet made a decision regarding our continued participation,” the statement says. If FURIA do leave, Brazil is still represented by two partner teams, LOUD and MIBR. LOUD won Champions in Shanghai on Sunday.
The winners of the new cycle
There are new names among the partners too. G2 Esports, who came up through Ascension, now have a partner seat of their own, and Weibo Gaming and Xi Lai Gaming are new partners in China. Champions finalists Team Vitality and third-placed 100 Thieves both kept their places. 100 Thieves wrote that they are “proud to be one of eight representatives of VCT Americas”.
In EMEA, Eintracht Frankfurt are the hardest case. The German club’s team made the playoffs in EMEA Stage 2 this year but did not get a seat, and will try to qualify through the open qualifiers.
What a partner seat is worth now
From 2027, the VCT becomes a tournament-based circuit with open qualifiers. Each regional Kickoff has twelve teams: the eight partners get a direct invite, and four come through the open qualifiers. In China, the field is eight partners, two visiting teams and two qualifiers. After the Kickoff, partners are not guaranteed a place in the VCT Cups and have to earn their spots like everyone else.
That means a team like Cloud9 or Nongshim RedForce can still reach Masters and Champions in 2027. The difference is the starting point: no direct Kickoff invite, and, as Evans Oh pointed out, less money and a weaker position when signing players. Riot have already revealed the VCT 2027 calendar, with Masters in Seoul and València and Champions in Austin.
Cloud9 wrote that more news will follow “soon after free agency begins on November 3rd”. With Global Esports’ whole roster and several Cloud9 players already on the market, the offseason has started early.
