It is a promotion that appears well-earned. According to Sheep Esports sources,
KOI Fénix coach Kirian
“Yaba” Martínez will be elevated to the main roster as
Head Coach for the 2026 VCT EMEA season. His contract runs until 2027. Yaba enjoyed a highly successful year in Challengers Spain, guiding the academy roster to victories in both Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the national league.
Under his leadership, KOI established itself among the strongest Tier 2 squads in the region, achieving a third-place finish at Challengers EMEA Stage 2. According to our information, Yaba will remain in charge of the academy for
Challengers EMEA Stage 3 before shifting his full focus to the VCT lineup. Even before his triumphant 2025 campaign, Yaba had already distinguished himself in 2024 by winning Splits 1 and 2 of the VCL East: Surge with GoNext Esports.
On the strength of these results, Yaba was the only KOI’s option, sources confirmed. He will succeed Simone “simoz” Giovannini and has expressed a desire to take full control of roster construction, effectively starting with a clean slate. As part of this process, he will assess Xavier “flyuh” Carlson and Dawid “Filu” Czarnecki, who have been permitted to explore other opportunities but remain under contract with KOI.
By contrast, Nathan
“nataNk
” Bocqueho and Kamil
“baddyG
” Graniczka will no longer compete under the KOI banner next season,
as previously reported by Sheep Esports. Just like with simoz, both players’ contracts included a clause that allowed KOI to decide whether to retain them for the following season, which expired fifteen days after the team’s elimination. Filu and flyuh are bound by the same clause as the other three players, though KOI has more time to exercise this option in their case. The team will therefore hold tryouts to build its roster.
For team founder Ibai Llanos, 2026 marks a pivotal year for the organization:
“2026 is going to be the first year in the history of KOI VALORANT that we are going to do the roster we want. If 2026 is a failure, it’s our fault.” Such changes are seen as essential for KOI to finally compete at a higher level within the regional elite. Since entering VCT EMEA in 2023, the team has consistently struggled near the bottom of the standings. Its best result remains a sixth-place finish at the 2024 Kickoff event, while 2025 ended with KOI in last place across both splits.
