Gentle Mates Releases Entire VALORANT Roster Ahead of VCT 2027

French esports organization Gentle Mates has officially released its full VALORANT roster and coaching staff ahead of the 2027 VCT (VALORANT Champions Tour) season. The move leaves the team with no players or coaches under contract as it heads into a new competitive year.

Gentle Mates Announces Roster Departures

In late October, French esports org Gentle Mates revealed some big Valorant changes. The organization confirmed the news in a farewell post on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, Gentle Mates thanked the players for helping the club reach its first-ever international appearance and wished them well in their future careers.

Nous avons vécu nos premiers Masters grâce à eux !

Une page de notre histoire s'est écrite à leurs côtés. Merci pour cette année en VCT 🩷 pic.twitter.com/SGDnLqnRih

— Gentle Mates (@gentlemates) October 25, 2026

Here’s a list of the five players who are leaving the team:

• Patrik “Minny” Hušek
• Yusuf Emre “Proxh” Tunc
• Martin “marteen” Pátek
• Patryk “starxo” Kopczyński
• Joona “H1ber” Parviainen

Two coaching staff members are also departing: head coach Jiri “KUNDIKUNDI” Honkala and assistant coach Erim “Mavera” Sasal. With all seven people gone, the organization is starting over with a completely clean slate.

Internal problems played a role

Internal issues appear to have contributed to the decision. Shortly after the release was announced, marteen posted publicly that conflicts within the team had grown too serious for him to keep ignoring or pretending everything was fine. He thanked fans for supporting the team through both good and difficult periods of the year and said the problems made it impossible to continue as before.

Didnt matter if the year was going well or badly, you guys always had our backs and I cant thank you enough to everyone who supported the team this year. I saw all the messages and it warms my heart.

It sucks for all the memories to end here, but the internal issues were too…

— M8 marteen (@imthemarteen) October 25, 2026

This was not the first time marteen had hinted at trouble. In September, he alluded to tensions within the team, including claims that information was being leaked to make him look bad.

Leaks point to a new EMEA “God Squad”

After the release announcement, Sheep Esports leaked that Gentle Mates is putting together a new lineup for VCT 2027 in the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). None of this has been confirmed by Gentle Mates, so the details below should be treated as rumors until the organization makes an official announcement.

Gentle Mates 🇫🇷 2027 roster according to our latest reports:

🇹🇷 Alfajer
🇷🇴 kozzy
🇨🇿 MAGNUM
🇹🇷 Ruxic
❓

🇺🇸 kaplan — Head Coach pic.twitter.com/jfzhWvkfrG

— Sheep Esports VALORANT (@Sheep_VALORANT) October 3, 2026

The reported lineup would include:

• Alfajer (Emir Ali Beder) – Flex / Duelist. He has reportedly reached a verbal agreement to join Gentle Mates following a standout tenure with Fnatic.
• kozzy (Denis-Stefan Aionitoaei) – Primary Duelist. He is joining as a highly touted prospective talent coming out of the Tier-2 EMEA Challengers scene.
• MAGNUM (Martin Peňkov) – Sentinel. The veteran player has reportedly reached a verbal agreement to join the team after spending the 2024 season with Karmine Corp.
• Ruxic (Uğur Güç) – Controller. The Turkish player would be joining the roster after a successful trial period, moving up from SuperMassive Esports.

On the coaching side, Drew “kaplan” Kaplan is heavily linked to the head coach position. He previously coached Sentinels and M80 and is reported to be the person leading this project.

A verbal agreement means both sides have agreed in principle but have not yet signed a final contract, so these deals could still change.

Boaster on Gentle Mates?

Additional rumors have suggested that Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett, former Fnatic IGL of five years, could complete the Gentle Mates lineup. Howlett recently moved to an inactive status, and has stated Fnatic is allowing him to explore his options. Notably, Alfajer is a former teammate.

However, it’s important to note that the Boaster rumors are largely unconfirmed. Boaster himself has not commented on them, and it’s entirely possible he could move to another org.

What happens next?

With every player and coaching position from the previous team now open, Gentle Mates faces a full rebuild. The club must assemble a new team for its first season under the new two-year VCT partnership structure.

The official transfer window opens on November 2, 2026. That gives the released players and coaches a chance to look for new opportunities, either with other partnered teams or elsewhere. It is also the point at which official signings can be expected. Until then, Gentle Mates has not announced any replacements or confirmed any of the rumored lineup.

Next year, the VCT is shifting from a franchised era to a system that constantly keeps seasoned competitors on their toes. With new open qualifier tourneys throughout the year, we can expect to see plenty of fresh faces in the running, and VALORANT esports will look much different than before.