Yusuke "neth" Matsuda has announced his retirement, closing the book on a five-year playing career that has seen him play on some of Japanese Valorant's most well-known teams.

"To all the players, coaches, and staff who fought alongside me until now,
and to everyone who supported and cheered for us, thank you so much," neth said. "I was truly happy to play as a player!!"

After spending the past season with FENNEL FENNEL Japan Rank #1 Aace Souta Itou Hals CLZ Hikaru Mizutani Anthem Yoshitaka Enomoto GangPin Chae Jung-moo (채정무) , neth transferred to Crazy Raccoon Crazy Raccoon Inactive to retire as a member of the team he had his most iconic moments with.

Japan's ultimate flex player made his professional Valorant debut in 2020 after wrapping up a nearly six-year playing career in Counter-Strike Online and CS:GO. He started out with BlackBird Ignis BlackBird Ignis Inactive popogachi Souta Morita oitaN Masayuki Takahashi poem Yumeki Shibasaki (柴﨑 夢輝) RIPablo Shuma Ikeda Pepper Shoki Banjo , but soon after moved to Crazy Raccoon, where he would stay until the end of 2023.

In three seasons with the org, neth helped Crazy Raccoon establish itself as one of the top Japanese teams of the pre-partnership era. In 2021, that strong run began with the team qualifying for all three international events. The following year, the Raccoons' grip on Japanese Valorant slipped as teams like ZETA DIVISION ZETA DIVISION Japan Rank #9 Absol Kazuki Fujinoki SyouTa Shota Aoki SugarZ3ro Shota Watanabe eKo Yeom Wang-ryong (염왕룡) Xdll Yuto Mizomori and NORTHEPTION NORTHEPTION Japan Rank #5 surpassed them to claim Japan's lone international spots. When the partnership era began in 2023, Crazy Raccoon was not selected, meaning they would compete at the Challengers level. They year, however, ended with no trophies lifted. A 12-game winning streak in Split 1 ended with a loss in the grand final, and a rockier Split 2 saw the team finish fourth and miss out on Pacific Ascension.

At the end of the 2023 season, neth joined DetonatioN FocusMe DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Rank #4 Meiy Ibuki Seki SSeeS Tomonori Okimura yatsuka Caedye Amon Mateus Okakura Akame Yu Gwang-hui (유광희) alongside CR teammates Meiy and popogachi . In 2024, DFM picked up just two wins across three events, and ended the year ranked 10th in an 11-team Pacific region. neth moved to Japanese Challengers squad FENNEL FENNEL Japan Rank #1 Aace Souta Itou Hals CLZ Hikaru Mizutani Anthem Yoshitaka Enomoto GangPin Chae Jung-moo (채정무) for 2025, finishing as the second-best team in the region behind the Pacific Ascension-bound RIDDLE ORDER RIDDLE ORDER Japan Rank #2 JoXJo Cho Byung-yeon (조병연) Minty Daiki Kato Seoldam Park Sang-min (박상민) gyen Koki Nakamura Luca . neth's last match as a pro player came during FENNEL's RBHG Japan Qualifiers run, where he helped the team qualify for Red Bull Home Ground Play-In.

With neth's departure and retirement, FENNEL FENNEL Japan Rank #1 Aace Souta Itou Hals CLZ Hikaru Mizutani Anthem Yoshitaka Enomoto GangPin Chae Jung-moo (채정무) 's full roster is now: