According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Simone "simoz" Giovannini has reached a verbal agreement with KOI to become the new head coach of the team for the 2025 VCT EMEA season. Other coaching options considered by the organization were Peter "Spin" Bradford from Team Vitality, or the duo Kirian “Yaba” Martínez (currently coaching together KOI Fenix) alongside Manuel "thinkii" Martínez as an assistant coach.

Back in April, the coaches of KOI, Harry "Gorilla" Mepham and Laike "temoc" Lewis were informed that they would be sidelined at the end of Stage 1 of the VCT EMEA, following a complicated start to the season. Indeed, the Spanish organization finished 9-12th in the Kickoff and, at the time of that announcement, was not doing well during Stage 1. Currently, the team is officially out of contention for the Playoffs. As expected, since KOI's Stage 1 has come to an end, Gorilla and temoc have been sidelined. This allows KOI to plan the arrival of their replacements, starting with the Head Coach.

A first time at the highest level

simoz is an Italian VALORANT coach who has been active in the competitive scene since 2020. He began his coaching career with Totem Providence and Totem Esports before moving to Mkers in 2022. In September of that year, he joined Dsyre Elevate, which would soon be promoted to Dsyre's main roster. Under his leadership, Dsyre found significant success in the Italian VALORANT scene, winning three out of four national finals between 2022 and 2023. After two strong years in Italy, simoz made the move to the Spanish Challengers ecosystem in early 2025, taking on the role of head coach for DNSTY in VALORANT Challengers Spain.

With a roster featuring Kamil "baddyG" Graniczka, Aliaksander "SimonD4rk" Skoubel, and Yari "caydeN" Olmi, DNSTY finished 3rd–4th in Split 1 of the 2025 season, falling to KOI Fénix—the academy team of the very organization simoz is now set to join. This performance marked a solid debut for simoz in the Spanish scene.

He will now step into the head coach position for KOI’s main roster in VCT EMEA, in a move that marks his first entry into the top tier of VALORANT’s competitive ecosystem. KOI is betting on his regional experience and championship pedigree to reignite their season and restore the team to competitive relevance.

KOI Fénix Head Coach Kirian "Yaba" Martínez has been offered the job in the first place, and did a statement explaining the situation and his decision.