Fnatic roster era ends as Alfajer joins Gentle Mates for 2027 VCT EMEA season
One of VALORANT's most decorated players leaves the org where he became a star, joining a French-founded squad rebuilding for a restructured competitive season
Emir “Alfajer” Beder is leaving Fnatic. The Turkish star, who spent over four years with the organization and helped define its identity in VALORANT esports, will join Gentle Mates for the 2027 VCT EMEA season.
What Alfajer leaves behind
During his time with Fnatic, Alfajer accumulated more than $380,000 in prize winnings and helped the team collect multiple VCT EMEA stage titles, including first-place finishes in both the 2024 and 2025 EMEA stages.
Fnatic reached the grand final of VALORANT Champions 2025, finishing 2nd on the game’s biggest international stage. Alfajer remained with Fnatic through mid-2026, participating in events including the VCT 2026 EMEA Stage 2 play-ins.
Why Gentle Mates, why now
Gentle Mates was founded by prominent French content creators and earned its way into the VCT EMEA partnership structure by winning Ascension EMEA 2023. In October 2025, Gentle Mates replaced Movistar KOI in the VCT EMEA partnership, with the slot effective through the end of 2026.
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Their 2026 roster featured starxo, bipo, marteen, GLYPH, and Minny.
The 2027 VCT overhaul looming over everything
Riot Games announced sweeping changes to the VCT structure in June 2026, scheduled to take effect in 2027. The overhaul will reduce the number of partner teams and introduce more open qualifiers into the ecosystem.