Barça eSports to leave LES after missing out on VCT partnership

will not be in the Liga Española de League of Legends (LES) in 2027. The exit was confirmed by the club’s Head of Esports and Gaming, Jogu, after the organization was not selected as a VCT EMEA partner for the 2027-2028 cycle, according to the list of non-selected teams published by Sheep Esports.

Barça was one of the teams competing for a VCT partner spot in the EMEA region, in a process in which Riot cut the number of organizations in each league to eight. The list confirmed by Sheep Esports shows the Catalan club was left out in EMEA, along with Movistar KOI, while the 2027-2028 partners are being confirmed in all four regions.

This was, however, rather unsurprising. Despite Barça’s good results in the VCL Spain, few organizations that had never competed in Tier 1 were accepted into the partnership program, particularly as the number of partner teams was reduced to eight per region in 2027. Ultimately, Team Heretics was the only Spanish club selected for the program. However, this does not necessarily mean that Barça will not field a VALORANT team next year.

Leaving LES does not mean the club is leaving esports. As Sheep Esports previously reported, Barça has built a VALORANT roster for 2027 with Yusuf Emre “Proxh” Tunc, Mohammad “Pa1ze” Khatib and Semyon “purp0” Borchev, plus Ondřej “MONSTEERR” Petrů, who completed the group alongside Adolfo “Fit1nho” Gallego, who remains with the team for a third season. Juan Carlos “meisoN” Chacón is the head coach.

The Open Qualifiers begin in November 2026 and send four teams per region to Kickoff, which runs from January 14 to February 7. The club, which entered VALORANT in January 2024, won Split 2 of VCL Spain that year.

Barça debuted in League of Legends in December 2021 and quickly established itself in the Spanish Superliga, finishing third in the 2022 Spring split and earning a spot at the European Masters. In 2024, it was Superliga Summer runner-up and reached the EMEA Masters. The best moment came in 2025, when the team reached the EMEA Masters Spring final, losing 3-0 to Los Ratones.

In 2026, now in LES, Barça was Kick-off runner-up and finished both Spring and Summer in playoff positions, qualifying for EMEA Masters Summer. The year ended with a fourth-place finish at the Final Four after a 3-0 loss to UCAM.