According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Jiri "KUNDIKUNDI" Honkala has reached a verbal agreement with Gentle Mates to become the team’s assistant coach for the VALORANT 2026 VCT EMEA season. The 29-year-old Finnish coach most recently worked with FOKUS, whom he joined in October 2025 to support the team during the Ascension tournament.

Before that, he spent almost three years in EMEA: first with BIG in the Tier 1 as head coach from late 2021 through 2022, then with MOUZ as coach at the lower level from 2023 to 2025. During his stint with the German organization, MOUZ alternated between VCL DACH, EMEA qualifiers, and Ascension campaigns.

This prospective move would mark a return to a partnered environment, within a French organization that has only just reclaimed its slot. Taken together, this outlines a coach who has worked almost exclusively with European rosters, in English, and inside the same competitive structure that Gentle Mates will have to climb again in 2026.

The end of the offseason for M8

For Gentle Mates, the timing is straightforward. Their 2025 VCT EMEA season was the team’s most challenging year since their 2023 Ascension victory: a 7th–8th place at Kickoff, followed by bottom-of-the-table finishes in both Stage 1 and Stage 2. Stage 2 proved especially damaging, with five consecutive group-stage losses that confirmed they would miss playoffs and, as a consequence, lose their partnered status at the end of the year.The only genuinely positive spell came outside the league, when the roster won BtcTurk GameFest in Istanbul ahead of Stage 2, defeating KOI 2–0 in the qualifier, BBL Pacific 2–1 in the semifinal, and Natus Vincere 3–1 in the final.

For M8, this signing represents the final piece of an offseason defined by the recruitment of a young international rookie such as Conner “GLYPH” Garcia , experienced players who have gone through multiple tiers of competition like Patryk "starxo" Kopczynski, and even VCT-level players with significant upside like Martin "marteen" Pátek, who won the EMEA Kick off 2024 with Karmine Corp.

Bringing in KUNDIKUNDI alongside Head Coach Pavle “pakko” Kostić is a structural move rather than a cosmetic one. With the recent EMEA experience, has already coached both German-speaking and mixed-European rosters, and ended 2025 embedded in an Ascension environment very similar to the one Gentle Mates have just exited.

Gentle Mates roster for 2026: