VALORANT: Happy joins MIBR as assistant coach for 2026

Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer will join MIBR for the 2026 VCT Americas season, the organization announced on Friday. The Natus Vincere head coach from 2025will return to North America, this time as an assistant coach for the Brazilian organization. The French coach is already familiar with the region, having previously spent two years there with M80, from early 2023 to late 2024.

He joins a project undergoing a major rebuilding phase, with the organization now taking a fully international direction ahead of the 2026 season. For the upcoming VCT Americas season, MIBR will compete under an American banner, adding Ian "tex" Botsch, Roberto "Mazino" Rivas, and Zachary "zekken" Patrone to the roster, alongside Andrew "Verno" Maust, who retains his spot. To round out the lineup, the Brazilian organization has also decided to keep Erick "aspas" Santos.

With M80, Happy dominated the North American scene, winning both splits of the 2023 NA Challengers before capturing the season-ending playoffs to crown themselves champions. Thanks to this performance, the American organization qualified for Ascension, but ultimately fell short in the grand final versus The Guard, narrowly missing a place in VCT Americas.

A similar scenario unfolded in 2024. After a more challenging season and Top 3-4 finishes in the regular season splits, M80 once again seized the crown by winning the year-end playoffs and securing another shot at Ascension. This time, it was 2GAME Esports, a Brazilian team, who defeated M80 in the grand final, shattering their hopes of reaching the Champions Tour.

Back in Europe with NAVI, Happy continued at the highest level, still serving as Head Coach. Starting with a Top 9-12 finish at the Kickoff event, the Ukrainian squad improved and finished Top 5-6 in Stage 1. After a slip in the Esports World Cup qualifier, Happy’s team managed their best result of 2025 with a fourth place in Stage 2.