Sources: Lebanon appoints VALORANT roster for the Esports Nations Cup

Unexpected for the VALORANT tournament at the Esports Nations Cup, Lebanon could still emerge as a serious contender for a spot, most likely through the qualifier combining the MENA region and Africa. According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Matteo "P0PPIN" Weber, currently playing for ENVY in the VCT Americas, is expected to take part.

Alongside the one, Marc-Andre "NiSMO" Tayar, who also competes in North America, is expected to represent the country at the inaugural edition of the ENC. Currently playing for M80 in Challengers NA, he has been active since VALORANT's launch and has spent almost his entire career in the Tier 2 scene. In addition to this trio, Baptiste "Yohpa" Khoury is also expected to join Lebanon’s selection for the ENC. He has always competed in VCL France and has been playing in Challengers Spain since the start of 2026. WaddlesThePig, who has been playing for BONK in VCL NORTH//EAST since 2023, completes the roster.

To complete the lineup assembled by Syrian coach Alaa "Rub1ck" Zaitoun, who will lead Lebanon in VALORANT for the ENC, Abed "SpY" Doughan is expected to be called up. The only player truly active on the MENA scene outside of his Head Coach, who is also a streamer for Team Falcons, SpY previously spent a long time with NASR Esports and Falcons, and has partly dominated the VCL MENA with AlQadsiah Esports since the beginning of the season.

Lebanon has therefore followed the rules and recruited two substitutes to round out its roster. “Khodor” and “FroZeN,” both players for Near Reality Squad, a Lebanese team, are expected to fill these roles, although it seems unlikely they will participate in the Nations Cup unless one of the five active players is unexpectedly absent.

As a reminder, 16 out of the 32 participating nations will earn direct invitations to the tournament’s main event. Direct qualification is based on a team’s total points, which are calculated from player performance. Each nation’s ranking is determined by the combined points of its five highest-scoring players. Lebanon currently sits at 1,300 points, distributed as follows:

For Lebanon, the road to Riyadh and the VALORANT tournament will most likely have to go through the Qualifier. With 1,300 points, the country would indeed rank around the top 30 in the overall standings, according to Liquipedia’s calculations.

There will be eight qualifiers spread across the globe, each granting two teams a spot at the event, except for the MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa regions, where the qualifying tournament has been split into two, with each region awarding one spot. The final two places among the 32 participants will be awarded as wildcards by the tournament organizers.