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LOUD Could Become First Organization to Win VALORANT Champions Twice
LOUD could become the first organization to win VALORANT Champions twice. The 2022 world champions face Team Vitality on Sunday, October 18, in the 2026 Grand Final in Shanghai, China.
Since the first Champions in 2021, five different organizations have lifted the trophy: Acend, LOUD, Evil Geniuses, EDward Gaming and NRG. None has won it twice.
For LOUD, the final also marks a return to the world stage after missing Champions in both 2024 and 2025. This time, the organization is chasing another title with five players who were not part of its championship roster in Istanbul.
LOUD’s 2022 World Title and the Years at the Top
On September 18, 2022, LOUD defeated OpTic Gaming 3-1 in the Champions Istanbul Grand Final. It capped the organization’s debut year in VALORANT, which had already included two domestic titles and a runner-up finish at Masters Reykjavík, also against OpTic.
The 2022 lineup featured Matías "Saadhak" Delipetro, Gustavo "Sacy" Rossi, Bryan "pANcada" Luna, Erick "aspas" Santos and Felipe "Less" Basso, coached by Matheus "bzkA" Tarasconi.
LOUD stayed competitive even after Sacy and pANcada left for Sentinels. With Matheus "cauanzin" Pereira and Arthur "tuyz" Vieira joining the roster in 2023, the team finished second at LOCK//IN São Paulo, won the inaugural VCT Americas and placed third at Champions.
Even after aspas departed, LOUD finished fourth at Masters Madrid in 2024. That result did not carry over to the rest of the season, however, and the organization missed Champions for the first time. Saadhak and Less also left later that year, while pANcada, who had returned in June, stayed on for the 2025 rebuild.
From World Champions to One Win in Ten Series
In 2025, LOUD won just one of its ten VCT Americas regular-season series. The team went 0-5 in Stage 1 and 1-4 in Stage 2, missing both sets of playoffs and failing to qualify for Champions again.
The season had started with an attempt to bring established names together. Former world champion pANcada remained alongside cauanzin and tuyz, while LOUD signed dgzin and v1nny to round out the starting five. lukxo initially joined as a substitute. But the losses led to more changes: v1nny and dgzin departed, tuyz moved to FURIA, and lukxo earned a starting spot.
Midway through the year, LOUD tried an international rebuild, bringing in Dutch player RobbieBK, Dominican player Virtyy and Turkish coach Leader. That lineup also failed to reach the playoffs. Strafe documented the organization’s struggles throughout the period.
The start of 2026 was little better. LOUD finished 11th–12th at Americas Kickoff and 7th–8th in Stage 1, missing both Masters events. Roster changes continued until July, when the team finalized the lineup that would eventually travel to Shanghai.
A New IGL and Five Players Making Their Champions Debuts
The turnaround came in Stage 2 with a younger, reshaped roster. LOUD advanced through the playoffs to reach the regional final in São Paulo, where it lost 3-2 to 100 Thieves.
Not one player from the 2022 championship team remains in the current lineup. In fact, all five starters are making their Champions debuts. The roster features two Brazilians, one Chilean, one Colombian and one Portuguese player.
Brazilian Lucca "lukxo" Travaioli has seen much of that transition firsthand. He initially joined as a substitute in January 2025 before moving into the starting lineup during the difficult season. Just over a year later, he has become one of the team’s key players.
Chilean Roberto "erde" Lobos joined in March 2026 and took over in-game leadership at just 18. Colombian Sebastián "Darker" Castro Cicuamia, signed in late 2025, was also part of the roster as it continued to change during the first half of the year.
The final two additions arrived in July: Brazilian Enzo "tkzin" Zimiani, on loan from KRÜ Spark, and Portuguese player David "DaviH" Cruz. By the time the Grand Final begins, both will have spent just over three months competing for LOUD.
LOUD also became the youngest roster ever to reach a Champions Grand Final, breaking the record set by Gambit Esports in 2021.
The Individual Records Behind LOUD’s Run
The standout performances began even before Champions. In the VCT Americas Stage 2 final against 100 Thieves, erde recorded 98 kills, a new record for a league Grand Final. lukxo added 90 kills in the same series, despite LOUD losing 3-2.
At Champions, tkzin made an immediate impact against EDward Gaming. The 18-year-old recorded three aces in a single best-of-three, becoming the first player to do in VALORANT Champions history, and finished the series with 47 kills. In LOUD’s next match against Vitality, he registered 37 kills in one map, the second-highest single-map tally in Champions history at the time.
lukxo set a record of his own in Friday’s (October 16) win over Vitality, securing five four-kill rounds in a single best-of-three, a first in the VCT. He finished the series with 64 kills and played a central role in securing LOUD’s spot in the final.
Heading into the Grand Final, lukxo and erde were also first and second in the Champions player rating rankings on VLR.gg, at 1.29 and 1.23, respectively.
From Paper Rex Comebacks to a Vitality Rematch
LOUD opened its Shanghai campaign by beating EDward Gaming 2-0. A 2-0 defeat to Team Vitality followed, leaving the Brazilian team needing a win over Global Esports to escape the group. LOUD responded with another 2-0 victory to secure a playoff berth.
In the upper bracket, LOUD came from behind on both maps to beat Paper Rex 2-0. Next came NRG, the reigning world champions. A 2-1 win over the titleholders guaranteed LOUD a top-three finish at Champions.
Then came the upper bracket final rematch against Vitality. The European side took Lotus 13-8, but LOUD answered with a 13-5 win on Summit and closed out Haven 13-11. Ahead of the Grand Final, LOUD had won five of its six series, with a 10-4 map record.
The run also drew a substantial audience. According to an Esports Charts report published on October 14, LOUD vs. Paper Rex peaked at 882,713 concurrent viewers, the highest figure recorded at Champions 2026 up to that point. LOUD featured in two of the event’s five most-watched matches in that snapshot.
A Familiar Opponent Awaits in the Grand Final
Vitality reached the Grand Final by defeating 100 Thieves 3-1 in Saturday’s (October 17) lower bracket final. Sunday’s match will be their third meeting with LOUD at Champions 2026, with the head-to-head tied at one series apiece. Vitality won in the group stage; LOUD took the rematch in the playoffs.
The European roster includes experienced international competitors such as Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev and Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov, and enters the final after playing the lower bracket decider on Saturday. LOUD secured its place on Friday and has had an extra day of rest.
The VALORANT Champions 2026 Grand Final takes place on Sunday, October 18, at 2 AM ET / 8 AM CEST / 3 AM BRT. The best-of-five will be played at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, with $1 million in prize money going to the winner.
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Featured image credit: Riot Games
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