Valorant is a young discipline that began its existence in 2020. Since then, there have been only three world championships. The first championship took place in 2021. Although not much time has passed since then, compared to other disciplines and their first world championship, the subsequent fate of each of the first champions differs. Some have ended their professional careers, while others continue to compete at a high level. More details about each of them can be found in this material.
Valorant Champions 2021
Valorant Champions 2021 was the first world championship in the world of Valorant, taking place in 2021, with a prize pool of exactly one million dollars. The ecosystem at that time significantly differed from today's. Any team could show significant results in their region and qualify for the tournament known as the Valorant World Championship. However, now we have a partnership system, and to get to the World Championship, a team first needs to achieve partner status. After that, the team will have the opportunity to participate in the most prestigious tournament of the year.
Acend
Team Acend made history in the Valorant world by becoming the first to lift the trophy of the most prestigious tournament, similar to what NAVI did in Dota 2. They achieved this by winning the grand final of Valorant Champions 2021 against Gambit Esports, who were considered the tournament's main favourite.
For this achievement, they received not only $350,000 but also fame. However, in 2024, the tag and some players from the championship lineup are not having the best of times, considering they were once world champions. One of them even ended his professional career not long after lifting the trophy, and the full lineup looked as follows:
In 2024, nearly three years after their victory, the Acend organization, although not performing at a high level, still aspires to it. After the formation of European partner teams, Acend did not receive an invitation and began its journey from the Challengers League, where it still competes with the aim of entering the VCT EMEA League.
cNed
Starting with the player who achieved the most success among the championship five, Mehmet "cNed" İpek. After leaving Acend, he signed a contract with Natus Vincere and continued his journey at the tier-1 level. So far, he has not been able to lift a trophy of that level again, but he came close last year at Valorant Champions 2023, where along with Natus Vincere, he finished 9-12th. After that, he parted ways with the team and joined FUT Esports, where he continues his journey to this day.
Kiles
Vladyslav "Kiles" Shvets, after the victory, stayed at the highest level for another year, joining Giant after Acend. However, he did not achieve significant results with Giant and left the team, signing a deal with Case Esports and continuing his journey at the tier 2-3 level in the Spanish league. He still plays for this team to this day. However, his days there are coming to an end, as the organization announced its departure from the Spanish scene and the closure of the Valorant and League of Legends squads. Therefore, the player's future is unclear in the near term.
starxo
Patryk "starxo" Kopczyński is the second and last player who continues to perform at a high level after winning Valorant Champions 2021. He plays for the team KOI, which is part of the partnership system and has a slot in the VCT EMEA League. However, he has not achieved significant results since leaving Acend. It has been over a year since that time, and during this period, he only won $5,000 in prizes and could not qualify for the world championship again.
zeek
Aleksander "zeek" Zygmunt, another Pole from the championship lineup, continued his journey at a high level for a long time, playing for Team Heretics, with which he won over $28,000. However, after the end of the first season of the VCT EMEA League, he left the team and spent a lot of time looking for a new team, trying his luck with various collectives. Finally, he found a new home - GoNext Esports, part of which he remains and competes in the VALORANT Challengers 2024 East: Surge.
BONECOLD
Completing our five is the player whose career fate has turned out the worst of all the championship lineup in terms of career development. We are talking about Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi, who joined the well-known club Team Vitality after Acend. For a year, he defended their colours but then became inactive and was later moved to the bench. After ending his contract with the organization, the player announced that he was ending his professional career, having lost the motivation to devote so much time to the game. Throughout his career, he won over $115,000 in prize money.
Unfortunately, with the end of one player's career, we will no longer see the championship lineup together on the field. However, as the first championship organization and the four other players continue their journey in Valorant. There's a high chance that one of them will lift the world champion's trophy again. Perhaps this will happen this year at Valorant Champions 2024, but only time will tell.
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