The second wave of Valorant Challenger Leagues has arrived, as EMEA gets its VCLs underway. At the time of publishing, only Spain and East have begun their regular seasons.

EMEA encapsulates the most VCLs after Pacific. The region has maintained every one of its 2022 VRL regions, splitting the Spain league — which previously was the only VRL for Portugal and Italy — in order to create an Italian and Portuguese VCL, increasing the total number to nine leagues.

Of the nine leagues, MENA is the only one with information publicly unavailable at the time of publishing.

VCL Northern Europe: Polaris

Northern Europe is, despite having the least organizations (only two out of eight teams are signed to an organization), one of the leagues with the highest skill ceiling. Polaris is only carrying over three teams from its 2022 season: who cars? who cars? Europe Rank #148 fexayy mishu Julius Thorslund Kyhl Klusia Jonas Colkær Thomsen Nille Nichlas Busk sunshine Benjamin Hornshøj Nielsen , Human Tripwires Human Tripwires Inactive Dev0 Corey Brame MaximN Maxim Nonglaire ReQz Hieu Moss chanformer Joshua Chan Bully Francisco Betancourt , and HSDIRR HSDIRR Inactive Ale Alend Khalaf vicious Benjamin Guilotte lyNxi Felix Björklund Meddo Johan Renbjörk Lundborg freddan (previously KOVA KOVA Inactive Supmah Hampus Svensson JESMUND Jesse Terävä Ale Alend Khalaf vicious Benjamin Guilotte shéd Jani Marjanen ). FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #26 Matrixx Iljas Amagow SEIDER Mathias Seider al0rante Felix Brandl YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes DisisJohn John Gabrido — after their offseason changes that added KPZET and Lime from Denmark and the UK, respectively — are now operating in Northern Europe instead of DACH and have also been invited.

Finally, Promod (the Polaris organizers) have also extended invitations to bonk bonk Inactive juseu Elric Belland-Aysan — whose newest roster includes players from several VRLs, among which are ex-FPX stand-in SEIDER and former Guild member bonkar — and Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #20 hype Tautvydas Paldavicius kaajak Kajetan Haremski MOLSI Michał Łącki soulcas Dom Sulcas AvovA Auni Chahade , which have united former FNATIC players MAGNUM , Mistic and Enzo with former FPX player ShadoW .

The final two slots were earned by VAMONOS VAMONOS Europe Rank #107 — a roster comprising of former Alliance players Nille and Zik , as well as former who cars? player sunshine — and Les Petits Bouffons Les Petits Bouffons Inactive vong Vong Nguyen Luzuh Joseph Loose KRAY Calum Knight Russ Russel Mendes L1NK Travis Mendoza , a roster hosting a multitude of British talent in L1NK , Luzuh (ex-MOUZ and Rix.GG), Russ (ex-Guild) and KRAY (ex-TENSTAR).

2023 is stacked. Get familiar with the teams 👇

🔵@ApeksValorant
🔵@FOKUSValorant
🔵@BonkValorant
🔵@WhoCars_Val
🔵@HSDIRRval
🔵@HumanTripWires
🔵VAMONOS
🔵@LePetitBouffons

VALORANT Challengers Northern Europe: Polaris returns next Monday at 6pm CET.

VCL Spain: Rising

Spain's VCL has suffered little changes when compared to the 2022 VRL. It's one of just four 10-team leagues, keeping most of its 2022 talent. Notably, Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin , KOI KOI Europe Rank #84 kamo Kamil Frąckowiak ShadoW Tobias Flodström grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko starxo Patryk Kopczynski sheydos Bogdan Naumov , and Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #32 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjy David Fish paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski stand-in Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius have moved up in the competitive ecosystem and are now partnered organizations in the VCT, leaving their slots vacant for the 2023 VCL. Arctic Arctic Inactive have also apparently exited the scene, remaining teamless after dropping their 2022 roster.

Two of those four slots have been filled by AYM Esports AYM Esports Europe Rank #211 Pando Chechuu Jesús Díaz Michel Michel del Castillo mober DRK Gabriel Lorenzo and Falcons Falcons Inactive synsi Jere Virtanen eXerZ Miguel Marín KILLDREAM João Ferreira Guardy Antonio Guardiola circu Fernando Puerta Jimenez . Both organizations are owned and backed by Spanish football players — Aymeric Laporte and César Azpilicueta, respectively. The former have hired Circuito Tormenta players, the second tier of Valorant in Spain, while the latter have gone bigger with names such as eXerZ , KILLDREAM and synsi . The remaining two slots have been filled by smaller Spanish organizations Zeta Gaming Zeta Gaming Inactive Saiz Daniel Ruiz RAYZZ Alejandro Montaner Roig circu Fernando Puerta Jimenez Chechuu Jesús Díaz ease Manuel López and Ramboot Club Ramboot Club Europe Rank #22 jannyXD João Daniel neptuNo Alberto González l0udly Marius Žilinskas Katu Kacper Twórz Kamisseq Kamil Lepper .

The final, tenth slot, belongs to jonba 's KPI Gaming KPI Gaming Europe Rank #6 zeddy Nikolai Lapko dimaxx Dmytro Paliy B1SK Vitaliy Emelyanov Insider Artem Puzanov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu desire Artem Kolisnyk . The league has managed to retain most of its talent, barring some players leaving for the VCT or other VCLs. At the same time, notable imports include H1ber ( Team Queso Team Queso Inactive mezoky Boom Daniel Jiménez ), saiko ( Movistar Riders Movistar Riders Inactive Nixerino Nicolás Canellas Colocho YuNo Eloy García Burgueño Vorwenn Tomas Baldrich Blastinho Miquel llombart Pando ), and shéd ( Ramboot Club Ramboot Club Europe Rank #22 jannyXD João Daniel neptuNo Alberto González l0udly Marius Žilinskas Katu Kacper Twórz Kamisseq Kamil Lepper ).

🔥Con estos equipazos dará comienzo la #VALORANTRising x MediaMarkt Intel MAÑANA.

¿Con quién vais vosotros?

📆Domingo 8 de enero
⏰16:30
📺Twitch.tv/lvpes2

VCL France: Revolution

VCL France, unlike Spain, is a 10-team VCL that is pulling most of its talent from the region it encapsulates. Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #21 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner runneR Emil Trajkovski ceNder Jokūbas Labutis Sayf Saif Jibraeel and Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #9 MAGNUM Martin Penkov tomaszy Tomás Machado N4RRATE Marshall Massey marteen Martin Pátek sh1n Ryad Ensaad have left for the VCT, and several names have dropped out of the running altogether: OG OG Inactive KONEQT Cista Adel uNKOE Benjamin Chevasson OniBy Theo Tarlier fxy0 Joey Schlosser LaAw Mathieu Plantin , Team BDS Team BDS Inactive bramz Bayram Ben Redjeb , Valar Morghulis Valar Morghulis Inactive Killu Vieillard Giovanni NRK Pedretti Charles uNKOE Benjamin Chevasson LeeN Adam Caillol LaAw Mathieu Plantin , and MAD Lions MAD Lions Inactive KRAY Calum Knight are no longer in the French scene.

These gaps have been filled by organizations exclusively from the region: HEET HEET Inactive Kinguyen Nguyen Thach memset Laurent Werly b2kk Sofian Delimi Monstrum Jake Byrne waddle Wadir Taraki , 3DMAX 3DMAX Europe Rank #74 BaWaN Loic Martello CyvOph Clement Millard Davidp David Prins , Zerance Zerance Europe Rank #143 Babax Baptiste Bertrand Jady Yaroslav Nikolaev UNFAKE Bartosz Bernacki lux9 Lucas Danna , VALIANT VALIANT Europe Rank #30 d3ffo Nikita Sudakov Ambi Štěpán Beránek NeskaaS Sohan Bessassa Sacake Ladislav Sachr Jesse Adam Čtvrtníček , Joblife Joblife Europe Rank #41 MAGiK Calvin Spaaij jas Jasiek Nieliwodzki RobbieBk Robbie Boerkamp kamyk Maks Rychlewski mikee Michael Lim and SBG SBG Inactive APO Tom Bonnion stand-in TakaS Jonathan Paupard logaN Logan Corti Wailers Wailers Locart beyAz Beyazit Körpe nataNk Nathan Bocqueho . New and old rosters have mostly pulled from the region's pre-existing talent pools, hosting just eight imports, among them former OGLU player hype .

France has been a notable source of talent for the EMEA region, and several of those players are staying in their country to compete. The VCL France will be the stage for names such as HyP , AKUMAAAAA , TakaS , logaN , and rodeN .

10 équipes dans l'arène, mais seule une d'entre elles en sortira triomphante. 👊 #VALRevolution

VCL DACH: Evolution

Returning to eight-team leagues, DACH stands out as one of the most downgraded regions. Several big names — Kryptix , Luzuh , ozzy , elllement , DeepMans , RECIDENT and more — have flocked away from DACH in 2023 after spending the second split of 2022 and the OFF//SEASON there. DSYRE DSYRE Europe Rank #3 caydeN Yari Olmi Tag Alessandro Voci wackie Rikardo Birjukov waddle Wadir Taraki Filu Dawid Czarnecki and Wave Esports Wave Esports Inactive SimonD4rk Alexandr Skovbel Click Haydem Ali Saiz Daniel Ruiz are no longer a part of the league, the latter having missed registrations deadline, leaving their roster without an organization for the league and competing under “TBD”.

Unicorns of Love Unicorns of Love Europe Rank #207 stev0rr Stevie Brindley Patix Patrik Rozman Leon Leon Roesberg bleeshh Christopher Bledowski Luc1d Kenny Gauthier Kühlmann have stepped into DSYRE's slot, after spending most of 2022 competing in DACH's Project V VRC. They joined the OFF//SEASON DACH: Evolution - Unity competition playoffs, placing third after losses to Ovation eSports Ovation eSports Europe Rank #167 B3ASTM0D3 Ivan Patrik Ledić Luzuh Joseph Loose canefis James Barry Louitan Louis Beresford eleo Leonard Kulish and DSYRE. Most organizations have largely kept their rosters and/or cores, while MOUZ MOUZ Europe Rank #2 xuss Tselmeg Tsolmon Obnoks Nico Garczarczyk iluri Ilari Puranen Fizzy David Figueiredo starki Krzysztof Lewandrowski and ALTERNATE aTTaX ALTERNATE aTTaX Europe Rank #178 Treelover Philipp Urban KovaQ Blendi Kovaci AdrianL Magnus Magnus Keller STAVINCI Dimitrios Smoilis are notable exceptions.

MOUZ have only kept al0rante from their offseason roster, filling the gaps left by former members with the likes of Obnoks , murii , and Filu . ALTERNATE aTTaX have brought on former Giants player Ambi and bucher , formerly of FOKUS.

English version

VCL Turkey: Birlik

Turkey is another 10-man VCL in this list. The country is known as a powerhouse of EMEA talent and has benefitted greatly from Riot's new system, with many big names returning to compete in Turkey. The league has just two imports across 54 players. The VCL will also include three new organizations, one to fill FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #5 MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban 's slot as they head for the VCT, and two more to become a 10-team league: Parla Esports Parla Esports Inactive Jlerst Naci Enes Yıldırım sociablEE Volkan Yonal lauress Toprak Kaynak Ruxic Uğur Güç jeyj7y Soner Eren Kent , S2G Esports S2G Esports Europe Rank #88 Muj Serhat Yüksel AsLanM4shadoW Ali Osman Balta jeyj7y Soner Eren Kent aimDLL Hüseyin Kabişteke russ Batuhan Malgaç , and Digital Athletics Digital Athletics Europe Rank #189 qpert Mateja Mijovic doma Domagoj Fancev Masic Sermet Demirer DeepMans Yiğithan Kesici DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin mini Muhammed Salman are now VCL teams.

The two imports are a part of İstanbul Wildcats İstanbul Wildcats Europe Rank #86 baha Baha Gözmen dRKY Onur Bora Genç sh1va Arda Özkaya MERZ Emre Aktaş deminatiX Akın Tak , who have kept braveaf from last year's roster and have added 7ssk7 . AslaN and DubzWoW , from Germany and Australia, both carry dual citizenship and are Turkish.

AslaN is part of S2G, a roster which also includes pAura , russ and former Papara SuperMassive Papara SuperMassive Europe Rank #23 sterben Emre Demirci skylen Asil Yalçın hiro Emirhan Kat CyderX Caner Demir MOJJ Buğra Kiraz Celasun Emir Celasun SouhcNi Ibrahim Sağır Izzy Baran Yılmaz coach 9999 , being one of the most competitive in the region. Other big names — sociablEE , Izzy , CyderX , lurzy0y0 , glovee , XiSTOU , and DeepMans — have remained in the region despite the big shuffle.

VALORANT Challengers TR: Birlik Ligi takımlarının kadroları karşınızda! 👏

Sence en etkili kadroya sahip takım hangisi?

VCL East: Surge

Eastern Europe's VCL is the final 10-man league in this list, also being one of the most competitive leagues in EMEA in players and size. Eastern Europe is one of the largest regions in EMEA Valorant, going so far as to encapsulate Ukraine, Greece and even Israel.

Several rosters from 2022's VRL have kept their core: Anorthosis Famagusta Esports Anorthosis Famagusta Esports Inactive , Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #172 LUKYYY Cantzer Václav Jan Stezka SH0UTyy Michal Glacner Hasaa Radim Haša Enrik Michal Vejvoda patagod Patrik Bojkovský , Zero Tenacity Zero Tenacity Europe Rank #19 Krizz Krzysztof Łukaszkiewicz snikk Sebastian Kamiński kenobi Szymon Łabędzki ALMO Albert Moscicki Freyy Krystian Konopka , Diamant Esports Diamant Esports Europe Rank #13 xiTsha Arkadiusz Nowak westside Thander Andrej Živanović Grmekista Tilen Grmek Prti Ivan Erak Pa1ze hold at least three players from last year's roster. NOM Esports NOM Esports Europe Rank #157 nero Eran Yosef Zneva szimpli Bence Soós RARE Arkadii Krokhmal arbie Kornel Holecz have promoted their academy roster, while the organization's former roster core will keep playing in the VCL under Cyber Wolves Esports Cyber Wolves Esports Inactive ALMO Albert Moscicki Freyy Krystian Konopka Hitch Martin Srp pyrolll Artur Minin tatzuki Jovan Milovanovic . Rapid Ninjas Rapid Ninjas Inactive ikke Martin Erdei Barcode Kevin Bana oli Olivér Paksi arbie Kornel Holecz , a former VRC East: United team, has joined the VCL with the same roster.

Finally, there are two unexpected names in the East. B8 Esports B8 Esports Europe Rank #176 WanZeru arch Vladyslav Svistov Nunmeister Kajuks Kajus Skurvydas , a Ukrainian organization, has joined the league with a roster spearheaded by arch and Dreamas . Acend Acend Europe Rank #8 ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi Br0die Jack Emmott baddyG Kamil Graniczka chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Vuubit Roope Eilola , Valorant's first world champions, have returned to competition in VCL East with MONSTEERR , musashi , and baddyG .

Friendly reminder - those guys will start their fight for the glory today! 🔥 For which team are you gonna cheer? 🧐

@anoesports
@AcendClub
@Z10esports
@NOM_Esports
@cyberwolves_si
@Rapid_Ninjas
@EsportsDiamant
@enterprise_esp
@AnonymoEsports
@B8esportsGG

VCL Italy: Rinascimento

VCL Italy: Rinascimento is one of two new leagues, going from a VRC last year to becoming an eight-team VCL this year. DSYRE are a part of this league after a 2022 stint in DACH, returning home with the former DSYRE Elevate DSYRE Elevate Inactive wackie Rikardo Birjukov xazyy Alejandro Giudice caydeN Yari Olmi Tag Alessandro Voci roster.

Several organizations from Agents Series, last year's VRC in Italy, have transitioned to the VCL: QLASH QLASH Europe Rank #204 LOMBA EduCoz SparkeR , Macko Esports Macko Esports Europe Rank #58 , Outplayed Outplayed Europe Rank #175 Dutchie Joshua Holland Shalaby Mohamed Shalaby mass3R Umberto Artuso Z3RO Giordano Macioce Braso , and Axolotl Axolotl Europe Rank #89 Pax xad Kacper Brzuchnalski are all returning to competition. WLGaming Esports WLGaming Esports Europe Rank #158 Nille Nichlas Busk and HMBLE HMBLE Inactive KnightVoice Hubert Lorenc looM Luca Landolfo are both returning to Valorant after a year away.

The final name comes from Azerbaijan. After ditching their CIS roster in late 2021, GMT Esports GMT Esports Inactive N A I S Alessandro Montanari AFoxx Fábio Veigas have recently returned to competition and now field bipo , HearthBeat , and AFoxx in a mostly-Italian roster that qualified to VCL Italy via the first LCQ.

Ecco gli 8 team che parteciperanno alla prima edizione dei Challengers Italy

Preparatevi alla sfida. Lo spettacolo sta per cominciare🔥🔥

#VALORANT #VALrinascimento #Sognatori @itVALORANT

VCL Portugal: Tempest

Portugal is, akin to Italy, the second new VCL. Last year's Campeonato de Elite, the country's VRC, has become VCL Portugal: Tempest. Four former DSYRE players, who won DACH: Evolution - Unity, have joined the Portuguese competition under the GTZ Esports GTZ Esports Europe Rank #201 Cal Callum Burgoyne nanotekkk H4te Rodrigo Ribeiro Kayn Tiago Teixeira Dos Santos Hiiro Eric Brassac name. Three of Arroz Arroz Inactive Zino Paulo Figueiredo Bati Miguel Batista DaviH David Cruz tomaszy Tomás Machado VTaguT Rui Ribeiro ' players, a team which swept the Portuguese scene in 2022, are now a part of SAW SAW Europe Rank #12 Fragger Henrique Correia brk Bruno Ferreira k1zpawn Ian Rebelo Addicted Eduardo Torres Cunha20 David Cunha , an organization who is now returning to the game after a year away.

The league is keeping several other names from their 2022 VRC, among which are Panthers Esports Panthers Esports Inactive tripsy Akira Rui Barbosa k4nzo MonOkson Eugene Nosko Sandro , Impulse GW Impulse GW Europe Rank #56 Akira Rui Barbosa pdr Pedro Sousa Caim Hugo Fonseca Sandro tripsy , EGN Esports EGN Esports Europe Rank #50 are all making a comeback. FTW Esports FTW Esports Inactive sww Diogo Lopes furyan Afonso de Sousa aztex Miguel Tavares Ptf0x João Coelho have acquired Heracles Gaming Heracles Gaming Inactive LionClaw Tiago Moreira Dizayn Ozan Yagiz 's slot. Fourteen Esports, a Portuguese organization, have linked up with former Masters attendees Team Vikings Team Vikings Inactive Veroneze Vinícius Ribeiro Ds Daniel Silva swag João Neto pollo Julio Silva to take Old Times Old Times Inactive Ds Daniel Silva KenzmPs Simão Azevedo stepa Symon Stepanov ' slot under a new joint name: VIKINGS Fourteen VIKINGS Fourteen Inactive twokey brk Bruno Ferreira GrTw Tiago Costa VTaguT Rui Ribeiro KenzmPs Simão Azevedo Ds Daniel Silva .

The final slot was acquired by EX0TIK GAMING EX0TIK GAMING Europe Rank #99 Aqua Adriá Borgmann mochi Sergio Cano HolyM0Ly Diogo Peixinho litshii Armin Pervan Dext Norbert Paulovčák pyrolll Artur Minin , a former Spanish Circuito Tormenta team. The slot was owned by bessa mix bessa mix Inactive , a mix team which qualified to the league but opted to sell the slot instead of participating, as some of its players were then picked up by other VCL teams.

Ergue-se a tempestade. Vais sentir a rajada do VALORANT Challengers Portugal: Tempest 🌊

@EGNesports
@EX0TIKGAMING
@ftwesports
@TeamVikings x @fourteenesports
@GTZEsports
@ImpulseGW
@PantherseSportt
@sawggofficial

Estreia a 14 de janeiro.

EMEA

Trailing the Pacific region in number of VCLs — EMEA has nine, whereas the Pacific has 10 — EMEA's tier 2 system is the second-largest in the current Valorant ecosystem. When compared to last year's EMEA VRLs, an extremely similar competitive system, the region has added two more by splitting Italy and Portugal into their own standalone leagues. Previously, they were both attached to and underrepresented at VRL Spain.

Besides the two new leagues, EMEA's VCLs are exactly the same as last year's VRLs, with several leagues mirroring last year's VRL or VRC prize pool.

In Split 2, the best teams of each VCL will be drafted into Challengers Ascension, the mid-summer competition that will close out the tier 2 scene. Ascension's winner will then access VCT EMEA for two years, receiving similar benefits to partnered teams and the chance to reach international events. Once those two years are up, the winner will return to their VCL.