Sources - VALORANT: Autumn to join EDward Gaming as head coach for VCT CN 2026

According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Yoon "Autumn" Eu-teum has reached an agreement with EDward Gaming to become the team’s new head coach ahead of the VCT CN 2026 season. Recently released by T1 earlier this offseason, the South Korean coach is set to take on a new challenge in another region, joining a roster made up entirely of Chinese players, quite a change from his previous experiences. Tang "Muggle" Shijun, the head coach who led the organization to a VALORANT Champions 2024 title, was dismissed at the end of October following a disappointing Champions 2025 run in Paris. In contrast, none of EDG’s current players are expected to leave before the upcoming season, as the organization appears to remain confident in its core roster, a sentiment echoed by Wan "CHICHOO" Shunzhi in a recent post.

The year had started on a strong note for EDG, who claimed the Kickoff title and qualified for Masters Bangkok, the first international event of the season. The Chinese side went on to secure an impressive third-place finish, falling in the lower-bracket final against T1 and Autumn, the very team and coach who would go on to win the event. Returning home for Stage 1, EDward Gaming narrowly missed out on a top-three finish and a qualification for Toronto, but managed to bounce back later in the year by earning a spot at the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

However, things didn’t go as planned in Riyadh. The team was eliminated in the group stage, first upset by Gen.G Esports, then briefly recovering with a win over 100 Thieves before being knocked out once again by Gen.G in the decider match. Back in China for Stage 2, EDG regained momentum with a third-place finish, securing their ticket to Champions 2025 in Paris. Unfortunately, their title defense ended abruptly after two losses in Group C, first to NRG Esports and then Team Liquid, prompting the organization to part ways with its head coach while keeping the player roster intact.

For Autumn, this move comes after earning his first official VCT trophy earlier this year with T1. Following a runner-up finish at the Kickoff event, the Korean squad stunned the competition by lifting their first title of 2025 at Masters Bangkok. Yet, consistency proved difficult to maintain, as T1 finished 7th–8th in Stage 1 and 4th in Stage 2, just enough to qualify for Champions Paris. There, the team was once again eliminated in the group stage, losing 2–0 to G2 Esports in the decisive match of Group D — an early exit that ultimately marked the end of Autumn’s tenure with the organization he had joined in late 2022.