NaVi return to the Riot Games Arena in Berlin today (17:00 CEST) for their second group stage match at VCT EMEA Stage 1 2026, this time against a retooled FUT Esports. Both teams enter with 1-0 records after Week 1 upsets, making this a direct fight for early control of Group Alpha.

What’s at Stake for NaVi vs. FUT in Group Alpha

The group stage format is clear: six teams, single round-robin, Bo3. The top four advance to playoffs, with the group winner earning a bye into the Upper Bracket Semifinals. With only five matches per team in the round-robin phase, every series matters on the road to Masters London.

NaVi opened with a gritty 2-1 win over Team Heretics on April 3, dropping Pearl 9-13 before recovering on Lotus and closing it out on Bind. That result carries extra weight given the circumstances. Abdullah “ExiT” Al-Twaijri missed the match entirely due to a visa delay, forcing NaVi to field Herman “Kolosha” Skrypka, an 18-year-old from the NAVI Visa Academy, as a stand-in. Kolosha struggled individually, but the rest of the roster picked up the slack. Caide “chloric” Heaton, one of NaVi’s two offseason signings alongside ExiT, looked sharp throughout the series.

The key question heading into today: is ExiT available? NaVi’s official channels have not confirmed his return, and if the Saudi player remains sidelined, the team will likely run Kolosha again. NaVi’s ceiling with the full five-man roster is significantly higher than what we saw in Week 1, and this is not an opponent they can afford to take lightly with a handicap.

FUT’s Rebuilt Roster Already Has a Statement Win

FUT Esports arrived at Stage 1 looking nothing like the team that went 0-3 at Kickoff. The Turkish organization overhauled its lineup between splits, benching ATA KAPTAN, MrFaliN, and qRaxs, while parting ways with longtime head coach GAIS. In their place: former ULF Esports duelist s0pp (who only recently turned 18), ex-NaVi flex sociablEE, and new head coach Vlad, also formerly of ULF. The current starting five of s0pp, xeus, yetujey, KROSTALY, and sociablEE is a fundamentally different squad from the one that limped through January.

The changes paid off immediately. FUT upset Gentle Mates 2-1 in their opener, dropping M8’s map pick on Pearl (10-13) before delivering dominant wins on Bind (13-8) and Haven (13-6). For a team seeded from Pool 1 as Kickoff’s 11th-place finisher, that is a serious opening statement against a squad fresh off Masters Santiago.

Eternal Fire Step Into VCT EMEA After ULF’s Mid-Season Removal

This Stage 1 cycle carries an unusual background storyline. On March 20, Riot Games terminated ULF Esports’ participation in VCT EMEA following prolonged reports of unpaid salaries. According to multiple sources, ULF players and staff had not received a single paycheck since the organization joined the league after winning VALORANT Ascension EMEA in 2025.

Eternal Fire stepped in as the replacement, signing four members of the former ULF core: audaz, Favian, echo, and nekky, alongside existing EF member Izzy. The Turkish organization now competes in Group Omega against Fnatic, BBL Esports, Team Vitality, GIANTX, and PCIFIC Esports. Riot has dealt with similar situations before across other VCT regions, but this marks the first mid-season ejection of a team from VCT EMEA specifically.

VCT EMEA Stage 1 Results and Schedule

Week 1 delivered a clean set of opening results. Team Liquid cruised past Karmine Corp 2-0, Team Vitality swept GIANTX, Fnatic edged past Eternal Fire 2-1 in EF’s debut, and BBL Esports handled PCIFIC Esports. In Group Alpha, FUT took down Gentle Mates, and NaVi clawed past Heretics.

Today’s schedule features two Group Alpha matches: FUT vs. NaVi at 17:00 CEST, followed by Gentle Mates vs. Karmine Corp at 20:00 CEST. A NaVi win puts them at 2-0 and in strong position for a top-two group finish. A FUT victory would confirm that the Turkish rebuild is the real deal, not a one-match outlier.

The full group stage runs through May 1, with playoffs starting May 7. The top three teams from the entire tournament qualify for Masters London in June. The match airs live on the official VCT EMEA Twitch and YouTube channels.