Nine days after learning they will not be a VCT partner in 2027, NAVI have released all five players and their head coach, and their academy team will carry the badge into the open Kickoff qualifiers.
NAVI announced on Wednesday that they have parted ways with their 2026 Valorant lineup: Emirhan “hiro” Kat, Uğur “Ruxic” Güç, Caide “chloric” Heaton, Abdullah “ExiT” Al-Twaijri, Clement “CyvOph” Millard and head coach Kyrylo “ANGE1” Karasov. The organisation thanked “all the players and staff who have been part of NAVI VALORANT throughout 2026” and wished them luck “on the big stage again”.
NAVI’s Valorant future now rests with NAVI Junior, the academy side that will represent the club in the 2027 EMEA Kickoff qualifiers, VLR.gg reported.
Who leaves and who stays
The 2026 roster:
hiro- Ruxic
chloric (in-game leader)
ExiT
CyvOph
ANGE1 (head coach)
NAVI Junior:
- Javelin
- Kolosha
Darxcioo
avey
sizo- Johnta (coach)
A season that never got going
NAVI went into 2026 with hiro, Ruxic and Andrey “Shao” Kiprsky kept from a middling 2025, and with ANGE1 moving from in-game leader to head coach. hiro and Ruxic had built their names as two of the strongest individual players in their roles in EMEA.
The team went out of Kickoff in the top eight and rebuilt. Shao and Volkan “sociablEE” Yonal left, chloric came over from North America to call, and ExiT was signed as a Duelist. Visa problems delayed ExiT’s arrival, so Berkcan “ComeBack” Şentürk filled in for Stage 1, where NAVI went 2-3 in the group stage and missed the playoffs. For Stage 2, Dawid “Filu” Czarnecki was released and CyvOph joined from FNATIC as a Flex. The result was the same: another 2-3 in the group stage, and a season that ended with a play-in loss to Team Heretics.
From partner to the open circuit
On 19 October, NAVI confirmed that they had not been selected as a VCT partner organisation for 2027. Under the new format, the eight partner teams in each region are invited to Kickoff, while the four remaining places go to teams from the open qualifiers. In EMEA, two of those belong to Europe, one to Türkiye and one to MENA.
For one of the biggest names in esports, it is a step down into a system that is still being argued over. The European road starts with two open qualifiers on 5 to 8 November and 12 to 15 November, followed by a 16-team playoff, and Riot are reviewing that playoff format after criticism that the eight invited teams start in the upper bracket while every qualifier starts in the lower. Only the top two reach VCT EMEA Kickoff.
NAVI have not said whether NAVI Junior will enter through the open qualifiers or receive one of the playoff invites. Their roster of two Ukrainians, a Belgian, a Latvian and a Pole sits 17th in VLR.gg’s European ranking.
hiro, Ruxic, chloric, ExiT, CyvOph and ANGE1 are free to look for new teams.
