After a rollercoaster season, Barça eSports have begun shaping their roster for the 2026 VALORANT Challengers Spain season. According to sources close to Sheep Esports, the Catalan club has found its new Duelist for next year as Michail "globeX" Kostylew has reached a verbal agreement with the organization.

The Russian-Polish player will remain in the Spanish Tier 2 circuit after a strong season with KOI Fénix. At just 19 years old, globeX is already preparing to enter his fourth competitive year on Riot Games’ FPS.

Barça eSports had waited for the player to complete his VCT EMEA tryouts, but the organization remained his priority if he didn’t make it to Tier 1.

Growing and Performing

The 2024 season was a pivotal one for globeX. He began the year competing under the 3BL Esports banner, where he won both the Road to VCL and the first MENA regional qualifier, but didn’t compete in the league afterwards as he left for Europe. Indeed, his next destination was Spain, as he joined KOI Fénix for the start of the Challengers EMEA campaign.

With KOI, globeX made an instant impact — helping the team secure a 3rd-place finish at the second continental tournament of the year. KOI topped their group before eventually falling in the Lower Final to the eventual champions, Enterprise Esports.

Back in VCL Spain, KOI continued their strong run and dominated Stage 3, finishing undefeated in the group stage (4–0). In playoffs, they swept globeX’s future team, Barça eSports 2–0 and defeated Ramboot 3–1 in the grand final to claim the title. Over the entire split, KOI dropped only three maps, once again qualifying for the third EMEA Challengers event of the year — though this time, they failed to advance past the group stage.

During that Stage 3 championship run, globeX stood out with an impressive set of statistics:

With the addition of globeX, Barça eSports are laying the groundwork for their 2026 roster — and their ambitions are clear. The club aims to build on the momentum of their most recent VCL split, where they finished 3rd–4th after starting the year with disappointing 6th and 9th place finishes.

For more roster changes, check out our Transfers Hub and Offseason Live Tracker.