Esport MeGentle Mates wipe entire VALORANT roster ahead of 2027 VCT partner debut
The French organisation has cut all five players and both coaches from its VALORANT squad, starting from zero before its first season as a VCT partner team.
Gentle Mates have released their complete VALORANT roster and coaching staff, leaving the French club with no players and no coaches on the books ahead of its debut season as a VCT partner team in 2027.
The organisation confirmed the departures in a farewell message posted on X, thanking Patrik "Minny" Hušek, Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski, Martin "marteen" Pátek, Yusuf "Proxh" Emre Tunc and Joona "H1ber" Parviainen, according to Esports.net News.
Head coach Jiri "KUNDIKUNDI" Honkala and assistant coach Erim "Mavera" Sasal have also left the club, meaning every role across the roster and staff is now vacant.
Esports.net News notes the scale of the clear-out is among the largest of this off-season, which has already included Team Vitality parting ways with Derke.
The reset marks a dramatic fall from where the season began. Gentle Mates finished bottom of EMEA in 2025 and rebuilt almost entirely, retaining only Minny while bringing in starxo as in-game leader alongside marteen, Taranvir "bipo" Singh and Conner "GLYPH" Garcia.
That new line-up finished second at EMEA Kickoff, a run during which marteen set a new kill record in a best-of-five series, Esports.net News reports. The result also delivered the club's first appearance at an international event, Masters Santiago, where they went 2-2 before exiting in the top eight.
Form collapsed from there. A 2-3 group stage finish in Stage 1 cost head coach Pavle "pakko" Kostic his job, with KUNDIKUNDI promoted from assistant to replace him, per VLR.gg as cited by Esports.net News.
GLYPH departed after a 0-2 exit in the Stage 1 playoffs, with Proxh, who had previously played for the club in 2025, brought back into the side. Stage 2 produced an identical 2-3 group record.
H1ber then replaced bipo ahead of the play-ins, where Eintracht Frankfurt eliminated Gentle Mates from the season. The team's other notable run came at the Esports World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals before eventual runners-up NRG ended their campaign.
Earlier in October, VLR.gg had already reported that KUNDIKUNDI was seeking a new team, that starxo and bipo had been given permission to explore other options, and that H1ber had been released, Esports.net News noted.
Gentle Mates' place in the EMEA region is secure regardless of the roster churn, since Riot Games has confirmed the club as one of its partner organisations for the next phase of the VALORANT Champions Tour.
With the entire 2026 group now gone, the rebuild starts from nothing. Esports.net News suggests marteen should attract strong interest following his record-breaking Kickoff form, while Minny departs after two seasons at the club.