The story of KRÜ Esports – The LATAM VALORANT team on the rise

KRÜ Esports is an Argentine organization focused on content creation, with a goal of bringing gaming and esports to a wider audience. The organization was founded by world-renowned soccer star Sergio “Kun” Agüero, who is set on helping to connect the traditional and virtual sports scenes. Founded in September of 2020, KRÜ Esports is one of the newest faces in the Latin American VALORANT scene. “I want everyone who joins KRÜ to love what they do, to feel comfortable,” said Agüero after the official launch of KRÜ Esports. “I really like all this and I want more people to get to know it and enjoy it like me.”

Just eight months after launching, KRÜ Esports had formed a strong fan base of over 520,000 followers social media. They have been seen as the pinnacle of Latin American organizations with their dedication to VALORANT and FIFA.

Outside of these two professional esports teams, KRÜ Esports has also signed Markito Navaja, a Latin American Twitch streamer located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With over 1.6 million followers on Twitch, the pink-haired streamer is most known for his just chatting and VALORANT streams.

KRÜ Esports could become an unstoppable force in VALORANT

KRÜ Esports entered the competitive VALORANT scene at the end of January 2021. The first tournament the team competed in was the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) LAS Stage1 Challengers 1 qualifier. There they placed 2nd to Wygers Argentina after losing 13-11 to qualify. KRÜ met up with Wygers Argentina again in the grand finals, falling once more to a 2-0 defeat.

After taking 2nd place at VCT LAS Challengers 1, KRÜ then went on to place 3rd at the LAS Stage 1 Challengers 2 tournament in February. This time they fell short to Furious Gaming in a brutal 13-2 shutout. KRÜ qualified for the LATAM Masters event in March but would once again fall just short, placing 3rd-4th at the event.

With several close finishes under their belts, they then took to Stage 2 with a new fire in their hearts. KRÜ placed 1st at the Stage 2 Challengers 1 main event and went on to place 1st at the Challengers Finals to qualify for Iceland. They beat out Infinity Esports in the finals 3-1, to punch their ticket to VALORANT’s first international offline event.

📢ES MAÑANAAA

En 24hs estaremos saliendo a la cancha del Laugardalshöll para enfrentar a @FNATIC!

Contamos con ustedes para alentar???🤟

📅MAÑANA
🕛10hs🇲🇽/11hs🇨🇱/12hs🇦🇷/17hs🇪🇸
▶️https://t.co/pIpIZNMgy5
▶️https://t.co/XYZatKPaKV pic.twitter.com/0xWdEzR9TB

— KRÜ Esports (@KRUesports) May 23, 2021

Fresh on the scene

Unlike big-name organizations like Sentinels, FNATIC and Team Liquid, KRÜ hasn’t been competing in VALORANT for long. They started their run at the beginning of January after their organization formed just a few months prior. KRÜ was also able to overcome their runner-up slump earlier in the year to make a run to Iceland. They are the only team currently representing LATAM, a region that many consider inferior to larger names in Iceland. However, that doesn’t take away from their incredible performance throughout LATAM that got them where they are now.

“I am very happy with these first months of KRÜ. We know that we are a young organization, but our first steps were firm,” said Agüero. “We want to continue achieving results, but above all things to build a working group that can trust the one beside.”

Can LATAM show off in Iceland?

KRÜ Esports has arrived in Reykjavik to compete in the VALORANT Masters 2, against the best organizations in the world. They became the best team in Latin America after defeating Infinity in the face-to-face tournament in Mexico. KRÜ’s roster is composed of Argentinean and Chilean pro players and will face FNATIC in their first match in Iceland.

The team leads the LATAM standings with a squad made up by Nicolas “Klaus” Ferrari, Juan Pablo “NagZ” Lopez, Roberto Francisco “Mazino” Rivas Bugueño, Benjamin “bnj” Rabinovich and Joaquín Ignacio “delz1k” Espinoza. The team is led by Rodrigo “Onur” Dalmagro and Martín “Betony” Bourre.

FNATIC is coming off of an impressive performance in Europe. They took 2nd place at the Challengers Finals against tournament favorites Team Liquid. Both teams will have to play an extra round in the bracket if they want to continue in the tournament.

While FNATIC appears to be the stronger team, it will be KRÜ Esports’ chance to prove themselves as a top VALORANT team, and indeed region, internationally.