This Wednesday, September 16, saw the grand final of the
VALORANT tournament at the
XIII South American Games 2026, which are taking place in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. After four days of competition, it was ultimately the Argentine national team, the home side of the competition, that walked away with the gold medal in Riot Games’ FPS and first place in the medal table, marking esports’ first appearance at the event, which brings together fifteen South American countries.
Argentina wins VALORANT gold
Four esports disciplines have been held since September 12, and the opening of these Games, which will run until September 26. For esports,
VALORANT closed out the competition, with Argentina winning
the grand final 2-1 against Chile in a match held at the L2 Arena in Rosario. Unsuccessful semifinalists Uruguay, who were defeated by Chile, and Colombia, who lost to the host nation, both picked up bronze medals. Paraguay, the fifth and final participating nation in the
VALORANT tournament, finished in fourth place.
After winning all four of its group stage matches 2-0 in a format played as Bo2s, with Enzo “ruso” Brito notably dominating on Neon with more than 250 ACS (Average Combat Score), Argentina logically qualified for the semifinals in first place. Chile, who only lost to Argentina, still dropped a draw against Paraguay in its final match but secured second place. Uruguay and Colombia both finished with one win, which was enough to send them through to the next round despite two and three losses, respectively, in the opening phase. Paraguay therefore failed to make it out of the group stage, with two losses and two draws.
Complete esports medal table at the South American Games
For esports’ first appearance at the South American Games, during this thirteenth edition, three other disciplines joined VALORANT, with Assetto Corsa GT, as well as men’s and women’s tournaments on EA Sports FC. A women’s tournament was initially planned but was canceled by the organizers due to a lack of participating committees, as the organization confirmed to us by message.
On EA FC, Peru took the men’s gold medal, with Luis SUÁREZ, ahead of Venezuela, while Colombia and Argentina completed the podium with bronze medals. In the women’s tournament, Argentina, represented by Daniela ARIAS, claimed the title ahead of Peru, with Ecuador and Paraguay taking bronze. In the racing simulation, Chile won the gold medal, ahead of Argentina, which took silver, and Colombia, which walked away with bronze.
| # | Nations | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total Medals |
|---|
| 1 | Argentina | 1 (EA FC W) | 1 (Assetto) | 1 (EA FC M) | 3 |
| 2 | Peru | 1 (EA FC M) | 1 (EA FC W) | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Chile | 1 (Assetto) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Venezuela | 0 | 1 (EA FC M) | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Colombia | 0 | 0 | 3 (EA FC M, VALORANT, Assetto) | 3 |
| 6 | Ecuador | 0 | 0 | 1 (EA FC W) | 1 |
| 6 | Paraguay | 0 | 0 | 1 (EA FC W) | 1 |
| 6 | Uruguay | 0 | 0 | 1 (VALORANT) | 1 |
