FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Unranked
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
has announced the promotion of assistant coach Milan "Milan"
de Meij to their vacant head coach position and signed Carl "Erik"
Erik Victor William Sandgren as their new assistant coach, filling the gap left by
Elmapuddy
's benching.
In the days leading up to the announcement, FNATIC team manager
CoJo
refuted rumors that the organization had reached an agreement to sign
NRG Esports
NRG Esports
North America
Unranked
FiNESSE
Pujan Mehta
s0m
Sam Oh
brawk
Brock Somerhalder
mada
Adam Pampuch
Ethan
Ethan Arnold
's
bonkar
, who was benched following a disappointing Americas Kickoff, as their head coach.
Milan brings years of experience in professional Valorant, having been a coach and an analyst since its earliest days. He started his coaching career in 2020 with
HSDIRR
HSDIRR
Inactive
Ale
Alend Khalaf
vicious
Benjamin Guilotte
lyNxi
Felix Björklund
Meddo
Johan Renbjörk Lundborg
freddan
, and had short stints with
HONK
HONK
Inactive
synsi
Jere Virtanen
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
Dreamas
Aurimas Zablockis
Destrian
Tomas Linikas
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
,
TENSTAR
TENSTAR
Inactive
Br0die
Jack Emmott
KRAY
Calum Knight
Polvi
Niko Polvinen
xms
Alexandre Forté
doma
Domagoj Fancev
, and
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Unranked
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
Derke
Nikita Sirmitev
Kicks
Kimmie Laasner
Sayf
Saif Jibraeel
Less
Felipe de Loyola Basso
before landing his first long-term stay with
Acend
Acend
Inactive
ALIVE
Gilad Hakim
musashi
Alessio Xhaferi
pyrolll
Artur Minin
cullumx
Nikolaj Cullum Andersen
chiwa
Egor Stepanyuk
.
With them, he was a part of the team that lifted Champions 2021. Since then, he has had stops at
Giants Gaming
Giants Gaming
Inactive
Redgar
Igor Vlasov
Fit1nho
Adolfo Gallego
nukkye
Žygimantas Chmieliauskas
hoody
Aaro Peltokangas
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
, who became
GIANTX
GIANTX
Europe
Unranked
purp0
Semyon Borchev
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
runneR
Emil Trajkovski
westside
Miłosz Duda
tomaszy
Tomás Machado
, and signed with FNATIC as their assistant coach this past offseason.
Formerly known as d00mbros, Erik joins as one of the biggest free-agent coaching names in European Valorant, having spent over four years with
FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix
Inactive
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
Zyppan
Pontus Eek
ANGE1
Kyrylo Karasov
Shao
Andrey Kiprsky
ardiis
Ardis Svarenieks
and
Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere
Europe
Unranked
ANGE1
Kyrylo Karasov
Shao
Andrey Kiprsky
Ruxic
Uğur Güç
hiro
Emirhan Kat
koalanoob
Gianfranco Potestio
.
Erik held analyst and coaching roles with FPX, one of pro Valorant's earliest super teams, from 2020 to 2022. He coached a team centered around Zyppan , SUYGETSU , ANGE1 , and ardiis . In that time, he witnessed the team lift trophies at EMEA Stage 1 Challengers, finish second in Stage 2 to FNATIC, lift Masters Copenhagen, and finish 4th at Champions 2022.
After the organization moved operations to China as Valorant moved into its franchising era, Erik was one of five core FPX members to be picked up by Natus Vincere, supplemented by Turkish sharpshooter cNed . In one and a half seasons as NAVI's head coach, the team achieved a semifinal finish at LOCK//IN São Paulo and fourth in the VCT EMEA League, but disappointed on the international stage.
Just weeks ago, FNATIC benched head coach Elmapuddy after a string of disappointing results ended with a 5th-6th place finish at EMEA Kickoff. Despite lifting the EMEA Stage 1 and Stage 2 playoff trophies in 2024, FNATIC struggled to find their usual success on the international stage, recording a 7th-8th place finish at Masters Shanghai and a 5th-6th place finish at Champions 2024.
With Milan and Erik now leading the charge from the coaching booth, FNATIC will continue forward with their roster from Kickoff.
FNATIC is now:
Discord