The new year is here and the new VCT season is approaching rapidly. Even with the fast pace, the Valorant world doesn't stop creating new headlines. Here's what you might have missed this past week in Valorant news.

This week's edition covers news from Jan. 01 - Jan. 07

• Last Week: News Almost Missed Dec. 31

Roster Changes

• / "keenc" and "PowerPixele" announced their benching from Complexity GX3 Complexity GX3 Inactive clawdia Claudia Che Karra Aara Lee rayse L4CE Lacey Dilworth Jazzyk1ns Jasmine Manankil as they search for new opportunities.
• Ninjas in Pyjamas entered the European GC scene signing the core from Rix.GG Lightning Rix.GG Lightning Inactive .
• Acend Acend Inactive ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi pyrolll Artur Minin cullumx Nikolaj Cullum Andersen chiwa Egor Stepanyuk released Vakaris "vakk" Bebravičius.
• / Milan "Milan" de Meij joined Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin as their analyst following his release from Acend the day prior.
• UCAM Esports Club UCAM Esports Club Europe Rank #15 Flickless Karel Maeckelbergh bucher Maximilian Bucher Quick Fabián Pereira YuNo Eloy García Burgueño released three inactive members in Adam "adm1k" Siemieniec, Maks "kamyk" Rychlewski, and Alexandre "Phatt" Silva. In their absence, the team signed Sammy "iDex" Van de Weghe, Eloy "YuNo" García Burgueño, Ramses "Famsii" Valentino Erasmus Koivukangas, and Karel "Flickless" Maeckelbergh.
• who cars? who cars? Europe Rank #211 fexayy mishu Julius Thorslund Kyhl Klusia Jonas Colkær Thomsen Nille Nichlas Busk sunshine Benjamin Hornshøj Nielsen parted ways with longstanding Assistant Coach/Analyst Adrian "NFist" Czerniło.
• VCL France: Révolution announced Valorians Valorians Inactive Yotaa Yota Kaouachi MateliaN Elian Romagnoli Kiiyo Yoan Marchesin ORI4K Myckel Huyot ' signing to 3DMAX 3DMAX Inactive BaWaN Loic Martello CyvOph Clement Millard Davidp David Prins .
• Longstanding Finish team, OnlyFins OnlyFins Europe Rank #57 nixoon Niko Pasonen Jesmu Jesse Järvenpää Kalkkuna LEVITTELIJÄ Paulus Paulus Paakki has announced the departure of their roster.
• SAW SAW Inactive Fragger Henrique Correia brk Bruno Ferreira GrTw Tiago Costa Addicted Eduardo Torres Cunha20 David Cunha welcomed an all-new Portuguese roster after a year away from the scene. The roster consists of the core from Arroz Arroz Inactive Zino Paulo Figueiredo Bati Miguel Batista DaviH David Cruz tomaszy Tomás Machado VTaguT Rui Ribeiro , as well as Eduardo "Addicted" Torres and David "Fizzy" Figueiredo.
• GTZ Esports GTZ Esports Europe Rank #200 H4te Rodrigo Ribeiro Caim Hugo Fonseca have signed the former DSYRE DSYRE Europe Rank #4 caydeN Yari Olmi Tag Alessandro Voci wackie Rikardo Birjukov waddle Wadir Taraki and Ian "k1zpawn" Rebelo for 2023.
• Annika "mediKa" Lambertz announced her departure from Acend Rising Acend Rising Inactive schnellÆ Ayşe Ergül amy Amy Lai h6tedthemost Lada Kozhemyakina speedowka Weronika Dabrowska Joliinaa Tina Agéli .
• / Team Queso Team Queso Inactive mezoky Boom Daniel Jiménez announced the arrival of Alberto "neptuNo" González, Joona "H1ber" Parviainen, Mario "PoPiFresH" González, and Christian "lowel" García Antorán for their 2023 roster.
• NOM Esports NOM Esports Europe Rank #92 Chadi Farsang Balázs promoted their junior team to the main roster ahead of VCL East.
• Fenerbahçe Esports Fenerbahçe Esports Europe Rank #194 DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin Yigox cacan Mert Çaçan welcomed an all-Turkish 2023 roster.
• Before Before Inactive announced the departure of Camila "sayuri" Obam.
• Oasis Gaming Oasis Gaming Asia-Pacific Rank #36 Zeus SecondLove slathom999 Shawn Dale Bolondro NDG Noel De Guia marky Mark Anthony Tuling rebuilt their roster ahead of the 2023 VCL season.
• Team RA'AD Team RA'AD MENA Rank #3 Shalaby Mohamed Shalaby Shniider Yousef Osama chrollo Omar Hussein Depyro Nour Sherif SkaNoodles Yousef Mohamed Yassien Yassien Ahmed parted with Omar "chrollo" Hussein.
• BOOM Esports BOOM Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #2 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan Famouz Fikri Zaki Hamdani Shiro Hildegard Arnaldo NcSlasher Sheldon Andersen Chandra BerserX Rizkie Adla Kusuma welcomed Thomas "Cud" Alfiantino to their 2023 roster.
• YaLLa Esports YaLLa Esports Inactive ShawateRR Mohammad Yousef Near Fahad Salem Kitkat Mohamed Alnuaimi B4HA Baha Mohamad Oqap ISSAA Issa Murad VIPP33R Omar Adwan parted with the remainder of their roster.
• DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) announced the transfer of Kang "BeYN" Ha-bin (강하빈) to Maru Gaming Maru Gaming Korea Rank #19 ANNYEON An Seo-jin (안서진) Dipa Yoon Ha-jun (윤하준) Xenus Lee Kyung-ho (이경호) mir Hwang Mir (황미르) GANGAZI Choi Min-yong (최민용) .
• In more DRX DRX Korea Rank #7 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) Athan Na Ha-jun (나하준) freeing No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) news, the team has extended the contracts of their coaching staff aswell as Kim "Zest" Ki-seok (김기석), Goo "Rb" Sang-min (구상민), and Kim "MaKo" Myeong-gwan (김명관) until 2026.
• DRX Changers DRX Changers Japan Unranked Healing Won Yoo-jin (원유진) YOME Ache welcomed a sixth player to round out their roster in Kang "YuRiHaNa" Jin-joo (강진주).

Results & Standings

• / CVH Winter Warmup Invitational winner: TAMU Maroon TAMU Maroon North America Rank #1 Bing Chilling Anthony Huang NXBLE Joe Maldonado JoBa Joseph Barker austifrosti KHS Nabber Nicholas Barrionuevo | runner-up: UWaterloo Gold UWaterloo Gold North America Rank #38 tril Toph Tommy Pham lil d Devin Cai light Davis Bray Havex Jason Huang
• BEACON Open Split 2: Finals - Division 1 remaining teams: VAMONOS VAMONOS Europe Rank #120 , Les Petits Bouffons Les Petits Bouffons Inactive vong Vong Nguyen Luzuh Joseph Loose KRAY Calum Knight Russ Russel Mendes L1NK Travis Mendoza
• BEACON Open Split 2: Finals - Division 2 remaining teams: valozone valozone Inactive Cintyx Christopher Heiland zRai Even A.Brevik Spolen Alexander Spolén Breinholt Martux Markus Søreng , GOODFOR2 GOODFOR2 Inactive Geni Jouko-Matti Raskinen Gunners Krishan Patel chanformer Joshua Chan szoren Søren-Emil Kold Thomsen ARGENT Berk Deniz Özdamar
• BEACON Open Split 2: Finals - Division 3 winner: YUNGSTARZ YUNGSTARZ Inactive Apyr Nathan Abrahamse benzki Ben Price Cal Callum Burgoyne thooOOM Thom Slaghekke brazy Lars Verduin | runner-up: BROTHAS BROTHAS Inactive TDS Tommi Severinkangas raaka w1lp lowi
• Project V: XMG Sector Cup #2 winner: Dogs Dogs Inactive YoungOne Jini Jan Miller pryxi z7eus Justin Reiß exo Maximilian Kuklinski | runner-up: Laterious Laterious Inactive jkR
• VEU S2 - Stage 1 WC#1 winner: armani briefs armani briefs Inactive dreAms Adel Smirnov krea6on Vilius Malinauskas Kajuks Kajus Skurvydas 1nput alain Ion Miscu | runner-up: Incognito Incognito Europe Rank #239 Stix Wojciech Chamielec demek msh darkosek Adrian Janus
• / VCL Malaysia/Signapore's open qualifiers kicked off.
• VCL Indonesia began their open qualifiers.
• / VCL Taiwan/Hong Kong started their open qualifier.
• VALORANT Vietnam: Rising Stars entered their first week of competition.

Other News & Rumours

• A report by Dot Esports has detailed that Jovanni "Jovi" Vera is set to return to North American coaching with Evil Geniuses GC Evil Geniuses GC Inactive PowerPixele Nora Lorri Lorrian Elad StarBound theia Melisa Mundorff . Upon his arrival, Christine "potter" Chi will be relieved of her head coach duties as she prepares the male roster for VCT Americas.
• In another report by Dot Esports, many details were released about free-agent teams approaching the first Open Qualifier. Disguised Disguised Inactive steel Joshua Nissan Genghsta Amgalan Nemekhbayar clear Joseph Allen Exalt Drake Branly nerve Michael Yerrow yay Jaccob Whiteaker has been signed by Disguised Toast's organization, STEALING LUNCH MONEY STEALING LUNCH MONEY Inactive Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor Lear Dayton Akau zeldris Elijah Hawkins PureVNS Vincent Nguyen nillyaz Chase Linder is set to get picked up by Indian team OREsports, as well as the deal with Dark Ratio Dark Ratio Inactive Ange Adam Milian Trick Justin Sears ZexRow Anthony Colandro Drone Taylor Johnson Will William Cheng and MAD Lions MAD Lions Inactive KRAY Calum Knight has potentially fallen through.
• According to a report by Blix.GG, ex- FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu stand-in Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder players Enzo "Enzo" Mestari, Martin "MAGNUM" Penkov, and James "Mistic" Orfila have reached a verbal agreement to play for Apeks in the 2023 Polaris League.
• Another report by Blix.GG has detailed that DAMWON Gaming DAMWON Gaming Inactive Lakia Kim Jong-min (김종민) allow Park Sang-wook (박상욱) exy Park Geun-cheol (박근철) Estrella Park Gun (박건) Esperanza Jeong Jin-cheol (정진철) are set to add Ko "Sylvan" Young-sub (고영섭) to their VCL Korea roster. The team will operate as a six-man roster, although there is uncertainty about how long the six will last.