Sources: Morocco appoints VALORANT roster for the Esports Nations Cup

Probably considered one of the favorites to secure a spot through the Africa & MENA qualifier in VALORANT, Morocco has reportedly decided on its players for the Esports Nations Cup, according to sources close to Sheep Esports. As he had already announced in an interview with our journalists, Amine "Johnqt" Ouarid is expected to lead the project and reunite with Yassin "reduxx" Aboulalazm, his Sentinels teammate since the start of the season.

Alongside reduxx, johnqt will also reunite with Martin "Ewok" van der Walt. The South African coach, who has been with Sentinels since the beginning of Stage 1, has already been introduced as the Head Coach of the Moroccan national team for this first edition of the ENC.

In addition to this duo competing in North America, the national team has also reportedly turned to players competing in Challengers France, such as Sulaimane "hAwks" Kabous, currently playing for Galions, and Yota "Yotaa" Kaouachi, according to information gathered by our journalists. Besides competing in France, the latter also played in Challengers Japan through his background and had already represented Morocco in a tournament during the Arab Esports League 2023.

For the final spot, the selection reportedly came down to two names: Adam "spaz" Laamoumi and Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik. Spaz, who currently competes for M80 after previously playing with Shopify Rebellion, has reportedly secured the final starting position following his recent VCL North America Split victory with the team. Meanwhile, Subroza, a former North American Counter-Strike professional best known for his time with TSM during his three active years in VALORANT, is expected to join the roster as a substitute after ending his professional career in mid-2023.

With a maximum total of around 1,000 points spread across four of the six players in the lineup, it seems highly unlikely that Morocco will receive a direct invitation to Riyadh and the final event. The VALORANT tournament, which is expected to take place in the Saudi Arabian capital from November 8 to 15, will feature 32 teams in total, including 16 nations directly invited through a points system set up by the Esports Foundation. Based on the results achieved by the players of each national selection, the ranking system does not particularly favor the Moroccan players, especially those competing in VCT Americas, the Tier 1 league that awards the most points, as they have not achieved strong results in 2026.

Morocco will therefore likely need to rely on one of the remaining 16 spots, distributed across seven continental qualifiers that each award two slots, or through one of the two Wildcard spots handed out directly by the organization itself. To qualify, Morocco will likely have to face other strong teams from the region such as Egypt, Lebanon or Saudi Arabia in the MENA & Africa qualifier, which gathers teams from across Africa and the Middle East.