On Saturday morning, Riot Games announced that it had terminated Movistar KOI’s partnership agreement with Valorant Champions Tour EMEA (VCT EMEA), claiming a “breach of the team’s contractual agreement with the league.” Movistar KOI is a division of OverActive Media.
Riot did not disclose specific details in its announcement, but The Esports Advocate has learned that the termination relates to Riot believing that Movistar KOI did not meet its contractual obligation related to co-streaming events using popular Spanish esports commentator and content creator Ibai Llanos. In a statement posted on X Ibai explained why he needed to take a break from streaming, and how Movistar KOI ultimately moved on to use Sergio Ferra instead:
Os pido disculpas personalmente por esta enorme decepción. Dejé de stremear a diario hace un año porque lo necesitaba a nivel mental y de salud en general.
Desde luego que me ha venido bien.
Tanto la LEC como VCT están en muy buenas manos. Siendo los únicos costreams con… https://t.co/9yvHiXzyAg
— Ibai (@IbaiLlanos) September 6, 2025
A rough translation of Ibai’s comments from Spanish to English:
I personally apologize to you for this huge disappointment. I stopped streaming daily a year ago because I needed it for my mental health and overall well-being.
Of course, it has done me good.
Both the LEC and VCT are in very good hands. Being the only costreams with production, a set, and 3-6 people per match.
Knekro is the #1 stream when juera KOI.
Ferra when he plays KOI must be the second.
I personally offered to come back and cover all the matches. Including those from the LEC just in case. It has served no purpose. No one has notified me of anything.
They are cheap excuses. And in a week, our replacement will be announced, who sells more guns.
Riot noted that this decision does not affect Movistar KOI’s standings in other Riot esports and leagues such as EMEA Challengers Spain: Rising. Finally, Riot said that a new team will take Movistar KOI’s place in 2026, and that an announcement on that would be made prior to its start. TEA reached out to Riot for further comment prior to the publication of this story.
Riot’s full statement posted on X:
VCT EMEA Update: pic.twitter.com/0t53yYqt5G
— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@valesports_emea) September 6, 2025
OverActive CEO & Co-Founder Adam Adamou issued a lengthy statement on X, acknowledging Riot’s decision and strongly disagreeing with it. He noted that, while he thinks the decision is unfair, his organization is moving on from it (and Valorant tier-1) and looking ahead to the future. Adamou’s full statement follows:
My Statement on VCT EMEA:
“Riot has decided that our time in VCT will end after the 2025 season. I don’t agree with their decision. We delivered everything in 2024, and for 2025 and 2026 our agreement required us to provide alternatives if we were unable to meet certain…
— Adam Adamou 🐦🔥🎏 (@Grazen) September 6, 2025
Finally, Movistar KOI put out this video explaining how an urgent meeting with Riot led to the news that the organization was out of the league:
Speculation from many in the community is that French organization Gentle Mates or Saudi Arabian esports organization Team Falcons are the likely candidates to replace Movistar KOI in the league. Obviously this is speculation and Riot is likely still in the early decision making phase of this process.
Team Falcons has been trying to gain entry into Riot’s tier-1 esports ecosystems for many years. According to multiple reports, Riot has declined to include them in its leagues in the past due to rules revolving around ownership disclosures. It should be noted that reports from July 2024 (as highlighted in this TEA story) indicated that Team Falcons had also been in negotiations with Rogue’s owners over its LEC slot, though those talks ultimately did not materialize into an actual deal. In 2023 Riot had blocked a bid by Team Falcons to acquire Astralis’ slot—it was eventually sold to Karmine Corp. Some sources at the time suggested concerns over ownership structures, potentially linked to companies associated with the Saudi Arabian government or its Public Investment Fund, played a role; however, Team Falcons has consistently denied any such affiliations.
Riot has certainly softened its stance on things tied directly to the Saudi Arabian government; in 2025 it finally allowed all of its top esports titles—TeamFight Tactics, Valorant, and League of Legends—to be present at the year’s Esports World Cup, a major shift from 2018 when it was forced to back out of a major deal with NEOM, another Saudi Arabian government funded project, due to public backlash.