VALORANT - VCT EMEA: KOI, the reasons behind the exclusion

The VALORANT ecosystem was shaken this Saturday as Riot Games announced the termination of its partnership with Movistar KOI, forcing the team’s immediate exit from the VCT EMEA. According to a statement published by Riot on X, the organization founded by streamer Ibai Llanos allegedly failed to comply with the terms of its agreement with the publisher. Riot accused KOI of “failure to immediately replace Ibai Llanos as the main asset broadcasting the matches” and of not fulfilling the co-streaming hours that were contractually required — a clause unique to KOI within the EMEA partnership structure.

Riot claims it flagged these shortcomings several times. Sheep Esports sources, members of KOI, confirmed that Riot had in fact raised concerns time to time throughout the 2024 season. However, the club was dealing with complications following its merger with Movistar Riders and MAD Lions KOI in January 2024, a move that caused significant administrative delays.

In January 2025, Riot reportedly sent the first real warning to the organization, notifying KOI of its contractual breaches. A few months later, in May, Riot met with Fernando Piquer, Chief Strategy Officer of OverActive, in Berlin to once again discuss these issues. Piquer then outlined the projects and processes the team had implemented to address the situation. From KOI’s perspective, no further warnings came after that meeting. On the contrary, the organization says it had been working actively with Riot on the 2026 bundle, which gave them the impression that their place in the league was no longer in jeopardy.

That belief collapsed during the first week of September 2025. On Wednesday the 3rd, KOI reportedly received an email summoning them to an emergency meeting the following day at 4 p.m. During that meeting, Riot informed the team of the immediate termination of the partnership, citing the contractual issues. KOI has since disputed the grounds of the decision. In an official statement, OverActive Media CEO Adam Adamou said: “We did exactly that, offering strong alternatives at our own expense that I believed provided real value. Those alternatives performed well beyond my expectations.” Ibai himself added: “I personally offered to come back and broadcast all the matches. Including those from the LEC just in case. It didn’t matter. Nobody warned me of anything.”

In his video response, however, Ibai acknowledged some structural shortcomings: underwhelming skin sales, disappointing competitive results, and content that fell short of the league’s standards. According to sources, KOI did expect Riot to possibly consider an eventual exclusion, but more around 2027. Internally, the announcement is therefore perceived as both premature and brutal, especially as the organization believed it still had one more season to correct course. For KOI, this exclusion is not the result of a lack of effort but rather a disagreement over contract interpretation. As Adam Adamou emphasized: “This isn’t about KOI’s performance, our players, or our content. This is about technical details in the contract.”

During Thursday’s meeting, Riot would also have informed the club that the public announcement was scheduled for Saturday, just two days later. KOI asked for a delay to prepare its own statement, but Riot would have refused. Players and the newly appointed head coach Kirian “Yaba” Martínez — who had just earned his promotion to the VCT after a highly successful year in Challengers Spain, as previously reported by Sheep Esports — would have been notified barely thirty minutes before the announcement went live.

As a result, Ondřej “MONSTEERR” Petrů, Harry “Gorilla” Mepham, and Dom “soulcas” Sulcas were declared free agents as of Saturday, October 6, despite internal clauses that could have allowed for their transfer to the academy roster. Riot is reportedly requiring KOI to release all players without conditions and to have them re-sign new contracts if they wish to compete under the academy banner next season. According to sources, MKOI had initially planned to keep its academy team and build a strong roster in hopes of returning to the VCT next year. However, those plans have now changed following the latest news from Riot Games.

To conclude this story, Ibai and Fernando Piquer both announced live on Saturday, June 6, that Movistar KOI's adventure in VALORANT was officially over. Regardless of the details, the decision brings an abrupt end to a project that began in 2022 and was expected to undergo a full rebuild in 2026 with Yaba leading a newly constructed roster.