According to sources close to
Sheep Esports, the Turkish organization ULF Esports is not expected to continue its journey in
VCT EMEA and will be replaced by Eternal Fire, another Turkish club. This information, first revealed by valoinside on X, comes after several weeks of warnings on social media, where many figures from the local scene and former ULF players complained about major payment delays, notably in
League of Legends,
as reported by Sheep Esports last December.
Still according to information gathered from sources close to the situation, Ömür Serkan "echo" Şenol, Anıl "nekky" Dağdeviren, Soner "audaz" Ekiz and Enes "Favian" Yiğiter are expected to continue their season under the Eternal Fire banner. For the fifth player, the most likely move would be the arrival of Baran "Izzy" Yılmaz, coming from EF’s current roster competing in Challengers Türkiye, but for now, this move is not fully done. This would bring an experienced profile to complete a roster that failed to find solutions at Kickoff, finishing Top 9–10 with only one win against PCIFIC Esports, the other Turkish organization promoted through Ascension that joined VCT in 2026.
Since Monday, March 16, Demir "
d3mur" Boğa and Eren "
sturNN" Oduncular have both announced on their respective social media that they are looking for a new project and will not continue their journey with
ULF. For Efe "
s0pp" Tur, the situation is different. The young Turkish player, who will only turn 18 in a few days, is reportedly heading to another project, whose name has not yet been revealed. As for the coaching staff, Hakan "
Afr0nfire" Pınarbaşı and Emirhan "
L7" Şahintürk, the head coach and assistant coach, respectively, are expected to continue with EF in VCT EMEA, according to sources close to
Sheep Esports.
Why withdraw now?
According to sources, ULF Esports players have not received any salaries so far for their time competing in the VCT. In addition, the Turkish roster has also not received the bonuses that were promised following their promotion to Tier 1. Faced with these issues, Riot Games reportedly asked the organization to resolve the situation by the end of January, which did not happen. The same occurred at the end of February, when the club again failed to meet its commitments to both its players and the North American publisher. Ultimately, ULF Esports decided to withdraw ahead of Stage 1.
Eternal Fire, founded in 2021 and active in the Turkish local scene since 2022, is therefore moving directly to the next level. Still active in 2026 with a roster that finished Top 5 at the
VALORANT Challengers League Türkiye Kickoff, EF is expected to keep this lineup, at least for a time, according to sources close to Sheep Esports. Known in particular for its presence in
Counter-Strike, the organization once hosted some of the best Turkish players on VALVE’s FPS before changes in national legislation forced the club to drop certain sponsors related to betting or case openings on
CS2, leading to the loss of some of its highest salaries. It is also worth noting that a few months earlier, the club had even moved its headquarters to Hungary.
In the meantime, the organization also left League of Legends in mid-2025, as well as PUBG: Battlegrounds. Ultimately, aside from a Tekken player, the club is now focused only on the two biggest FPS titles in esports, with a second lineup on VALORANT expected to join its two Counter-Strike rosters in the coming days. The players, under their new tag, will return on April 1 in the opening match of Stage 1 against Fnatic.
