Sources: Turkey appoints VALORANT roster for the Esports Nations Cup

Highly anticipated due to its strong presence within VCT EMEA, Türkiye is expected to be one of the major nations competing in the inaugural edition of the Esport Nations Cup, in the VALORANT tournament. Following a bootcamp phase and a preliminary shortlist of 12 players, TESFED, the Turkish esports federation, has reportedly finalized the roster set to represent the country next November in Saudi Arabia. As previously revealed by AMKespor and confirmed by Sheep Esports, Emir "Alfajer" Beder, Enes "RieNs" Ecirli, Uğur "Ruxic" Güç and Yusuf "Lar0k" Kanber are all expected to be part of the lineup.

According to our reporters' information, Doğan "xeus" Gözgen should complete the active roster, while Mert "Wo0t" Alkan and Efe "s0pp" Tur are expected to serve as substitutes. The lineup, led by coaches Mert "KEY" Çelebi and Berke "Vlad" Kantürk, currently with BBL Esports and FUT Esports, respectively, should logically bypass the qualifier stage and receive a direct invitation to the final event. Such a possibility would notably be due to all six players competing in VCT EMEA, alongside several strong international results, including Alfajer’s runner-up finish with Fnatic at Champions Paris 2025 and Lar0k’s Kickoff title and Masters Santiago qualification with BBL.

Indeed, the Esports Nations Cup, expected to take place in Riyadh next November, has implemented a points-based system across all 16 game titles featured at the event, relying on the recent performances of participating players. For VALORANT, whose final event is expected to run from November 8 to 15, half of the 32 participating national teams will receive direct invitations through this ranking system. Nations were allowed to register five active players and two substitutes, with the five highest-scoring players among the seven counting toward the global standings.

As a result, alongside the 16 directly invited nations, two additional teams will qualify through Wildcards, while the remaining 14 spots will be decided through seven continental qualifiers awarding two slots each. Türkiye, which could have competed through either the Europe East or Africa & Middle East qualifiers, should, therefore, leave those opportunities to smaller emerging nations.