Esport MeLOUD's teenage roster beats Team Vitality to seal second VALORANT Champions crown
A rookie-heavy LOUD side came from behind against Team Vitality to win VALORANT Champions 2026, with IGL erde dedicating the title to his mother days after her death.
LOUD have won VALORANT Champions 2026, beating Team Vitality 3-1 in the grand final to become the first organisation to claim the title twice, according to Esports.gg News.
The result closes out the tournament with a reversal of fortunes: Vitality had actually swept LOUD 2-0 when the two sides met in the group stage, Esports.gg News reported.
LOUD then turned that around in the upper bracket final, winning 2-1, before taking the decisive grand final 3-1 to lift the trophy.
The current roster has no connection in personnel to LOUD's first Champions win in 2022, when the organisation was fronted by Erick "aspas" Santos and Gustavo "Sacy" Ross.
This year's line-up is Lucca "luk xo" Travaioli, Juan "Darker" Castro Cicuamia, David "DaviH" Cruz, Enzo "tkzin" Guimarães Zimiani and in-game leader Roberto "erde" Lobos, according to Esports.gg News.
By the outlet's figures, LOUD fielded the youngest roster in the entire event, with an average age of 19.8 across the five players.
tkzin is the youngest member at 18, and Champions 2026 was his first season competing at Tier 1 level, having been loaned to LOUD by KRÜ Spark last July, Esports.gg News reported.
erde was named the tournament's Finals MVP, and used the platform to reveal that his mother had died two days before LOUD's opening match of the event, against EDG.
"I dedicate this win to my mom, she died two days before our EDG game. I couldn't believe it, she was doing really well with her disease," erde said, as quoted by Esports.gg News.
"I dedicate this tournament to her. I only play for her," he added.
The VALORANT Champions Tour's official account marked the moment on social media, posting a message to erde alongside footage from the event.
LOUD's win also carries significance for the structure of the league itself. According to Esports.gg News, this tournament closes out VCT's franchise era, with the 2027 season moving to a format built around Open Tournaments rather than the closed franchise system that has run since 2022.
That makes LOUD's 2026 title both the second Champions win in the organisation's history and the last trophy to be contested under the franchise model Riot Games introduced four years earlier.