VCL MENA TO's Just Killed Valorant in North Africa

Every region around the world has a clear path for teams to go pro, usually through Premier, open qualifiers, or regional qualifiers.
For North Africa, since we don’t have local servers, our path has always been one thing: Playground, our regional qualifier.

But for 2026, something unexpected happened.
Tournament Organizers decided to skip Playground entirely and instead run a relegation between:

The bottom 2 teams from last split

2 teams chosen from the last Playground, which happened all the way back in April, for Split 2 of last season.

This creates a massive problem.
The April Playground is extremely outdated. Teams changed rosters, orgs invested, some rosters don’t even exist anymore.
Using a 7-month-old tournament to decide who plays the upcoming season makes zero sense.

And here’s where it gets worse: the picks weren’t even based on current performance.
They skipped the top 3 and took the 4th place team instead.
Why? No explanation.
Why rely on an old tournament when you could hold an open qualifier, giving every team a fair chance?

There’s another detail most people don’t know:
This year, VCL can directly qualify a team to Champions.
Meaning circuit points are more important than ever.

If a team doesn’t get to play Split 1, they lose an entire stage’s worth of circuit points, which could be the difference between:

Qualifying to Challengers EMEA 3
→ Leading to VCT EMEA Stage 2
→ And ultimately Champions.

Teams have invested money, time, players, coaching staff, and months of preparation, all to wake up to a system that feels unfair, outdated, and disconnected from the region’s actual competitive state.

North African teams deserve a transparent, modern, and competitive path to pro, not random selections and outdated brackets deciding their entire season

ChatGPT ahh post

unfair tbh, i hope they will find a solution.

Typical Riot treatment ,there is favoritism everywhere. Unlucky we don't choose what region we represent.

jake s0n has competitors

is the team they picked considered one of the best?

I’m Moroccan and I’m tired of seeing our region ignored like this. North Africa deserves a fair, transparent system — not decisions made behind closed doors. It’s time we stand up, speak up, and fight for a real path to pro play. Much respect and a big salute to all North African teams who keep grinding despite everything. Enough is enough

so unfair picking the teams like that

For North African teams, the entire system is blatantly unfair. It makes no sense to hold a new qualifier on a 7-month-old playground when rosters have changed and organizations have made investments. Ignoring the best teams and choosing the fourth-place squad at random without any justification? Competitive integrity is not what that is. Losing Split 1 means losing important circuit points because VCL now provides a straight route to Champions. NA teams should not have to make judgments based on out-of-date brackets and ambiguous criteria; instead, they should have a clear and modern route to the professional ranks.

very unfortunate

GodAwfulGod [#2]

ChatGPT ahh post

Ngl there’s a time and a place for comments like this and this just isn’t one of em

temi [#11]

Ngl there’s a time and a place for comments like this and this just isn’t one of em

stop tryna be wise just call him a cunty twat

That's so disappointing

Where can we find info about this playground?

9wntr where are you i need you to see ts

what a f''' pathetic region.

Nah, This can't be real . It’s 2023 and 2024 all over again.
they promised this region that the issues from 2023–2024 would be fixed in 2025, but this year is already looking even worse.

cancelling the most awaited tier-3 tournaments of the year and giving relegation spots under the table… seriously?

For us North Africans, we don’t have a server, we don’t have Premier that qualifies to VCL, we don’t have national leagues, and we don’t have any tier-3 ecosystem. Our only tournament the one every player waits for all year is this VRC, tournament and now you cancel it just like old TOs did in 2024.

And on top of that, no communication, and instead handing out slots privately?

Yes, these teams have talented players, but does that justify removing competition entirely?

Do you really think it’s acceptable to remove VCL MENA and give instant slots to Ascension, for example?

this not acceptable in any way simply because without tier 3, tier 2 MENA will never succeed and , we already don't have any tier 3 ecosystem here in north africa and you are removing the only remaining chance for North Africans to do anything in valorant

Imagine going out looking for sponsors so you can get at least a few imports and a coach and be ready, then they hit you with this sh''t. What a disappointment.

Unfair af

Players are not asking for anything special, just a system that makes sense and they can get behind ..

couldn't say it any better , what a sad region

our region every time doing the same that shame

I will not make friend there but : Since Egyptian can now play on a decent ping on ME server, this was bound to happen, "GCCI" will become "ME" a strong T2 in the future and Maghreb will not be able to play there because of ping. Since they are no server, no premier, and not enough population to have a T2 with just Maghreb, (Keep in mind SEA has fuse together), I see no other future for Maghreb to become either a part of France (The way Netherlands is) or Spain (The way PT and IT are), and that probably the best can happen to the region.

My opinion is that EMEA should start developp amatory T3 system like in north Europe, and Maghreb should become a T3 system, but it's not big enough to develope a strong T2

Surprise surprise ! They don’t care about MENA ! They gave a promise last year that they’ll be holding qualifiers to ensure fair opportunities but they didn’t keep their word ! Everyother region hold multiple tournaments and qualifiers, MENA had only one and still they took it! The saddest region in VALORANT

This is honestly unfair. Using a 7 month old tournament and skipping the actual top performers makes zero sense, especially when so much is on the line this season. Teams invested months of work just to face a system that feels outdated and disconnected. North Africa deserves a fair and transparent path to pro not this.
#ShameOnVALORANTAR

the region is a disaster
i hate the organizers so much
it's so painful to watch this region

It’s not a surprise or news to favour ME over NA. Since the first VALORANT LAN ever in Turkey, Fox Gaming–Majesty played on shitty PCs and monitors on LAN, while two Egyptian teams got to play from home — and one of them even qualified to play in EU.

Moving forward to last year: VoidWalkers won their game against TEAM GB by forfeit because GB were breaking the rules and couldn’t add a sub to play. The game was decided as a win by the TO for VoidWalkers, but later on they changed the decision on their own and replayed the match. The funny thing is TEAM GF again FF’d their last game that split, and now they somehow have a chance in relegation. How can you be this bad as a TO and not enforce your own rules?

This year is the best one so far from the TO: no relegation qualifiers, they just chose two teams with zero integrity. Tell me how you’re including NA in this region when you don’t even give them the chance to qualify. Just remove us from the region and keep it ME…

This should not stop here. We need Valorant Esports to make a decision.

baroque [#5]

jake s0n has competitors

never thought this shit was possible but here we are

kuh_leel [#27]

It’s not a surprise or news to favour ME over NA. Since the first VALORANT LAN ever in Turkey, Fox Gaming–Majesty played on shitty PCs and monitors on LAN, while two Egyptian teams got to play from home — and one of them even qualified to play in EU.

Moving forward to last year: VoidWalkers won their game against TEAM GB by forfeit because GB were breaking the rules and couldn’t add a sub to play. The game was decided as a win by the TO for VoidWalkers, but later on they changed the decision on their own and replayed the match. The funny thing is TEAM GF again FF’d their last game that split, and now they somehow have a chance in relegation. How can you be this bad as a TO and not enforce your own rules?

This year is the best one so far from the TO: no relegation qualifiers, they just chose two teams with zero integrity. Tell me how you’re including NA in this region when you don’t even give them the chance to qualify. Just remove us from the region and keep it ME…

This should not stop here. We need Valorant Esports to make a decision.

I think you mean Team GB but yeah you're right.

Couldn't have said it better. All the effort and praccs we have been through just for the TO's to hand pick or randomly pick 2 teams (i don't even know at this point what the process was). What a joke.

Even worse, nobody has any idea that the relegation was being held this weekend until someone told me. NO OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. NOTHING. Not sus at all for sure.

So we didn't learn from last time, we didn't learn. Disappointment and anger is all I feel. Hope this changes something.

Thanks for lighting up on the situation!

Anguibok [#23]

I will not make friend there but : Since Egyptian can now play on a decent ping on ME server, this was bound to happen, "GCCI" will become "ME" a strong T2 in the future and Maghreb will not be able to play there because of ping. Since they are no server, no premier, and not enough population to have a T2 with just Maghreb, (Keep in mind SEA has fuse together), I see no other future for Maghreb to become either a part of France (The way Netherlands is) or Spain (The way PT and IT are), and that probably the best can happen to the region.

My opinion is that EMEA should start developp amatory T3 system like in north Europe, and Maghreb should become a T3 system, but it's not big enough to develope a strong T2

Having a stable T3 system in North Africa would be far better than the current MENA system. What’s the point of having a T2 system if you can’t even qualify to play in it? or if there's so many issues arround these qualifiers ?

Right now, the only players competing in VCL NAL (North Africa/Levant) are either those who were active back in 2020-2021 or those lucky enough to have been given or bought VCL spots with the exception of a few Egyptian teams that qualified through the VRC circuit.

For the past three years, we’ve had just one VRC tournament per year, making it a do-or-die situation. Lose a single game, and you have to wait an entire year for another chance. On top of that, there’s no certainty about when the tournament will happen or if it will even take place. No one can properly prepare because you might end up preparing for nothing, just like in 2023 and 2024, and like what happened today. Many new teams tried to prepare for this upcoming VRC (Road to VCL), only to be surprised by TOs directly giving spots to selected teams.

Do you really think that’s a fair system? There are no other tournaments throughout the year, no VLR stats, no environment for players to improve or compete, and no solid ground to prove themselves.

I’d much rather see a stable T3 league for North Africa , like BTL for Italian teams, that gives, for example, one spot to VCL Spain Relegation or VCL France Relegation, while most of the remaining slots from these regions (e.g., 3, 5, 6) go to those regions and one or two spots to North Africa. That way, players have consistent opportunities to compete in their own T3 league, improve,prove themselves and fairly earn their place to advance to VCL.

xFroZeN21 [#29]

I think you mean Team GB but yeah you're right.

yeah Team GB, thanks for the correction.

Anguibok [#23]

I will not make friend there but : Since Egyptian can now play on a decent ping on ME server, this was bound to happen, "GCCI" will become "ME" a strong T2 in the future and Maghreb will not be able to play there because of ping. Since they are no server, no premier, and not enough population to have a T2 with just Maghreb, (Keep in mind SEA has fuse together), I see no other future for Maghreb to become either a part of France (The way Netherlands is) or Spain (The way PT and IT are), and that probably the best can happen to the region.

My opinion is that EMEA should start developp amatory T3 system like in north Europe, and Maghreb should become a T3 system, but it's not big enough to develope a strong T2

Another solution could be to introduce an alternative “Premier” tournament. This would be played without any cash prize, but would give teams set dates in advance and a fair chance to qualify for relegation. That way, new and aspiring teams could prepare properly, compete on an even playing field, and have a real opportunity to advance to VCL.

Currently, the VRC tournament I mentioned happens only once per year, even though it should occur at least three times, corresponding to the three splits. Not only does it happen so infrequently, but there is also almost no communication about it. Teams have to wait a whole year, only to be surprised either by the tournament being canceled entirely or by an announcement just six days before it starts.

LouBag [#6]

is the team they picked considered one of the best?

they picked 2 teams that got relegated and top4 and top5 of NAL last year but they skipped top 3 wich is a moroccan team wich doesnt make sense to me

GodAwfulGod [#2]

ChatGPT ahh post

youre a cunty twat mate

what in the botting/alt spam is going on here

wow Morocco found vlr

baroque [#36]

what in the botting/alt spam is going on here

everyone in this thread above you is a pro player in t2 mena
for example: https://www.vlr.gg/player/29015/crimi
https://www.vlr.gg/player/6742/troublemaker/?timespan=all
https://www.vlr.gg/player/29017/vada
https://www.vlr.gg/player/21291/frozen/?timespan=all
etc

Fact that This happens and no one knows about it makes it so sad beyond understanding, how can you be so stupid to do such thing and think you're gonna get away with it everytime, there has to be a change, all those in power are selfish pieces of shit, power and responsability is always given to the wrong people in north africa, this gotta change

GodAwfulGod [#2]

ChatGPT ahh post

not really chatgpt but sure

delighted [#40]

not really chatgpt but sure

The bolding, formatting and wording give it away. I'll admit I probably shouldn't have said what I've said in this context, but there is not point in denying that it isn't at least edited/assisted by AI.

baroque [#36]

what in the botting/alt spam is going on here

you're being downvoted but lowkey i was suspicious as well.

Pupaxv and Boutizia straight up look like their posts were generated by ChatGPT, and so many Moroccan accounts were literally made today.

i'm not saying all of them are bots or anything, just that it's weird. a lot of these no star Moroccan accounts were made literally today.

woah so many algeria and morocco people here

bro "ma3rifa" only in this region tooo
very nice 👍🏻

Condolences from OCE, same shit happened to us

archetype [#42]

you're being downvoted but lowkey i was suspicious as well.

Pupaxv and Boutizia straight up look like their posts were generated by ChatGPT, and so many Moroccan accounts were literally made today.

i'm not saying all of them are bots or anything, just that it's weird. a lot of these no star Moroccan accounts were made literally today.

yeah idk a lot of the accounts were created within minutes of each other
seems unlikely that all of these t2 pros found this post and created vlr accounts within 15 minutes of each other to say smth

baroque [#46]

yeah idk a lot of the accounts were created within minutes of each other
seems unlikely that all of these t2 pros found this post and created vlr accounts within 15 minutes of each other to say smth

della3 (the guy who posted this thread) is an algerian streamer and cc
he was discussing this
this not a random post

up

VADA [#31]

Having a stable T3 system in North Africa would be far better than the current MENA system. What’s the point of having a T2 system if you can’t even qualify to play in it? or if there's so many issues arround these qualifiers ?

Right now, the only players competing in VCL NAL (North Africa/Levant) are either those who were active back in 2020-2021 or those lucky enough to have been given or bought VCL spots with the exception of a few Egyptian teams that qualified through the VRC circuit.

For the past three years, we’ve had just one VRC tournament per year, making it a do-or-die situation. Lose a single game, and you have to wait an entire year for another chance. On top of that, there’s no certainty about when the tournament will happen or if it will even take place. No one can properly prepare because you might end up preparing for nothing, just like in 2023 and 2024, and like what happened today. Many new teams tried to prepare for this upcoming VRC (Road to VCL), only to be surprised by TOs directly giving spots to selected teams.

Do you really think that’s a fair system? There are no other tournaments throughout the year, no VLR stats, no environment for players to improve or compete, and no solid ground to prove themselves.

I’d much rather see a stable T3 league for North Africa , like BTL for Italian teams, that gives, for example, one spot to VCL Spain Relegation or VCL France Relegation, while most of the remaining slots from these regions (e.g., 3, 5, 6) go to those regions and one or two spots to North Africa. That way, players have consistent opportunities to compete in their own T3 league, improve,prove themselves and fairly earn their place to advance to VCL.

To me the perfect system is :

• Maghreb player now have French LTR meanning they can play in FR premier
• Winning Invite will qualify for T2 FR relegation
• In parallel they are an amatory T3 tournament for Maghreb team only, on the same period than T2. The winner of T3 also qualify for T2 qualification.
• In T2 we must have at least one Netherlands and one Maghreb team, if the last Maghreb team is relegated, they will play a national qualifier featuring the relegated team and the winner of premier and winner of Maghreb T3, the winner is qualified, the looser go in the main relegation T2. This ensuring every T3 are represented

Here is an exemple of T3 already held in North https://liquipedia.net/valorant/BEACON/National_Leagues/2024/Finland the cashprise is 2k€ but I do beleive we can go less if they are absolutely no money, the most important things is that the tournament is held for Maghreb

VADA [#33]

Another solution could be to introduce an alternative “Premier” tournament. This would be played without any cash prize, but would give teams set dates in advance and a fair chance to qualify for relegation. That way, new and aspiring teams could prepare properly, compete on an even playing field, and have a real opportunity to advance to VCL.

Currently, the VRC tournament I mentioned happens only once per year, even though it should occur at least three times, corresponding to the three splits. Not only does it happen so infrequently, but there is also almost no communication about it. Teams have to wait a whole year, only to be surprised either by the tournament being canceled entirely or by an announcement just six days before it starts.

Thats a decent "short term" solution, but if they are no league, on the long run the level might go down

r0t0 hates mena

poiuu20 [#15]

9wntr where are you i need you to see ts

its cooked

9wntr [#52]

its cooked

so is mena officially over?

poiuu20 [#53]

so is mena officially over?

saudi val still fine-ish
north africa val is fucked

9wntr [#54]

saudi val still fine-ish
north africa val is fucked

so my moroccan boys valo is over, fuck

kuh_leel [#32]

yeah Team GB, thanks for the correction.

Im with you in the main topic and fully support , but if you dont know enough details dont talk about it please ))

GodAwfulGod [#41]

The bolding, formatting and wording give it away. I'll admit I probably shouldn't have said what I've said in this context, but there is not point in denying that it isn't at least edited/assisted by AI.

cant tell if your retarded or ragebaiting

unfair , unlucky mena region

As one of the teams affected, we can confirm that these decisions completely undermined our work and left us sidelined without any consideration for what we’ve been building. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, roster changes, preparation, investments, and months of commitment, yet none of it mattered in the final decision-making. It genuinely feels like our situation was ignored, and we ended up paying the price for choices that don’t reflect the current competitive reality. North African teams deserve better than this. Our efforts should matter. Our region deserves a fair and transparent system.

also why gcc get 6 teams in relegation and levent get 4

wow this seems like a massive oversight from riot
i hope it gets attention from the very top

baroque [#36]

what in the botting/alt spam is going on here

Hi, I just want to tell u that im not a bot, im both a streamer and partner with riot and this is my new acc cus we morrocans do not use this website but when we had this problem we have no choice just to type here to make people see what happend to us in MENA that is why u will find new acc , and people using ChatGPT cus not all of us can speak proper english as it is our 3rd language, I hope u understand this + we are here to talk about what happened and shine light on the favorism. My point is focus on the subject at hand not the little details like this.
Have a nice day!

not_Ksar [#57]

cant tell if your retarded or ragebaiting

It’s definitely AI. Normal humans do not bold every other word.

theiceman [#60]

also why gcc get 6 teams in relegation and levent get 4

they have a lot of circuits to get qualified to VCL from (playground/premier/saudi eleague)
we had only playround (ROAD TO VCL) and now they have removed it wow

Everyone deserves a fair shot.

Picking teams at random is the opposite of professional integrity.

I hope something is done to right this wrong.

LouBag [#65]

Everyone deserves a fair shot.

Picking teams at random is the opposite of professional integrity.

I hope something is done to right this wrong.

Yep, they did something, they posted the promotion/relegation teams on social media.

I guess they don't give a flying f'

its unfair to be honest , I hope they will find a solution as soon as possible.

LouBag [#63]

It’s definitely AI. Normal humans do not bold every other word.

i dont think so the ai detector says its less than 5% of being ai text

theiceman [#60]

also why gcc get 6 teams in relegation and levent get 4

saudi e league saves gcc from being a complete mess

GodAwfulGod [#2]

ChatGPT ahh post

This decision is unfair. Valorant is supposed to be a fair competitive space, not a place where entire nations get disadvantaged, but we don't give up!

hellnah man they fucked us

guys we r too poor they will never listen to us, they r busy with pink and blue colored hair.

Grok give me a summary

Harmeyy [#72]

guys we r too poor they will never listen to us, they r busy with pink and blue colored hair.

they wont even fix bahrain ranked servers they clearly dgaf abt mena
i got 2gb/s ethernet and i lag out of ranked games

ALTR0Nq [#56]

Im with you in the main topic and fully support , but if you dont know enough details dont talk about it please ))

every thing i mentioned is backed up with facts and if i give details about this, there will be more unreal stuff exposed that i don't want to explain.

baroque [#46]

yeah idk a lot of the accounts were created within minutes of each other
seems unlikely that all of these t2 pros found this post and created vlr accounts within 15 minutes of each other to say smth

it's because we gathered the community to speak up about this issue, NA teams are not given the chance to qualify yet they include NA in all promotions how is this fair?
they say its MENA, but No qualifier was made to NA teams .... it's not the first time btw

North African teams have invested time, money, coaches, players etc and they find themselves with a system that is:

1. **unfair,
2. obsolete,
3. disconnected from the current competitive reality,
4. based on random selections and a 7-month-old bracket.**

The message is that North Africa deserves a transparent and modern path to the pros, not a makeshift system that can ruin the season for entire teams.

#VCLMENA_CompetitionNotConnections

hmmm
https://x.com/RiotStupendous/status/2001312403036737939?s=20