Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #19 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky have moved former head coach Erik " Erik " Sandgren, also known as d00mbr0s, to the inactive roster. Going forward, Oliwer "LATEKS" Fahlander will take on the head coach role.

The move marks the end of a year-and-a-half relationship between Erik and NAVI. During this time, he led the team to multiple top-four finishes, including LOCK//IN in 2023 and EMEA Kickoff in 2024.

Erik's career as a coach began in 2020 during the closed beta. In April of that year, he formed the orgless team, FABRIKEN FABRIKEN Inactive Limpone Linus Wecksell Shrew Gabriel Gessle PHYRN Oskar Palmqvist LATEKS Oliwer Fahlander , alongside LATEKS and Shadow, who currently plays for KOI. Zyppan joined the team in June, and they made consistent grand finals appearances throughout the year.

The FABRIKEN core was picked up by FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks , where they joined ANGE1 and Shao to form one of the region's first “super teams”. Erik joined as trial coach, but later became an analyst for the team. Once again, they consistently made tournament finals, but were unable to make it past the top four in First Strike and Masters 1, Europe's first official Riot events.

After Masters 1 and failing to make Masters Reykjavík, Erik was promoted to head coach. FPX once again did not qualify to Masters Berlin, and various roster moves across different orgs meant they were five points shy of qualifying to the 2021 LCQ.

Ahead of the 2022 season, the team welcomed two new players, ardiis and SUYGETSU . The new roster went out in the group stage of Red Bull Home Ground, but had their sights set on VCT 2022. The new focus paid off, as they won Challengers 1 with only a single loss despite needing an emergency substitute due to the escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The victory qualified them to their first-ever international tournament, but the team was unable to attend Masters Reykjavík due to travel restrictions.

Success continued for FPX, propelled by the new roster's synergy and the Erik-ANGE1 constant innovation. Once again, they reached the Challengers 2 grand final, qualifying to Masters Copenhagen. The org was able to secure travel for their full roster, but SUYGETSU would join after the group stage, should they advance to playoffs. FunPlus Phoenix went on to play every single match possible in the event, defeating the Masters Reykjavík winners 3-1 and winning the grand final 3-2 against Paper Rex.

FunPlus Phoenix finished in the top four in Champions 2022. After the end of the season, the org did not make the EMEA partner league, and the majority of the roster, including Erik, joined NAVI.

LATEKS will be taking Erik's place as head coach for the remainder of the season. He has worked with NAVI as assistant coach and analyst since the FPX core joined the org in 2022. His career as coach is less extensive than Erik's, first taking up the role in 2022 for Spanish org Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin . He helped the team reach top four in both VRL Spain splits that year, and he was picked up by NAVI soon after.

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #19 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky will next play against Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius in Stage 2 of VCT EMEA: