2025 VCT Season Awards Winners: The best players of every region in 9 categories

The 2025 VCT Season Awards have officially been announced, celebrating the top-performing players and coaches from across all four regions: Americas, EMEA, China, and Pacific.

The awards highlight excellence and consistency over the competitive year, recognizing talent across nine categories such as Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Duelist of the Year, and more. Each region crowns its own standout performers who shaped the 2025 VALORANT season.

How the VCT Awards Voting Works

Voting for the 2025 VCT Season Awards involved members of the broadcast team, select media representatives, and one player, coach, and streamer from each regional team. Importantly, teams were not allowed to vote for their own players or coaches.

Voters selected three names per award, ranking them as:

• 1st place = 3 points
• 2nd place = 2 points
• 3rd place = 1 point

VCT Americas Awards Winners

• Player of the Year: Erick "aspas" Santos
• Rookie of the Year: Brock "brawk" Somerhalder
• Duelist of the Year: Erick "aspas" Santos
• Sentinel of the Year: Nathan "leaf" Orf
• Controller of the Year: Jacob "valyn" Batio
• Initiator of the Year: Brock "brawk" Somerhalder
• In-Game Leader of the Year: Ethan "Ethan" Cole Arnold
• Most Improved Player: Gabriel Araujo "cortezia" Lobo Cortez
• Coach of the Year: Malkolm "bonkar" Rench

The 2025 VCT Americas region saw NRG, G2 Esports, and MIBR dominate the awards. Aspas’ consistent brilliance once again earned him the Player of the Year title, solidifying his position as one of the best players in VCT history.

VCT EMEA Awards Winners

• Player of the Year: Kajetan "kaajak" Haremski
• Rookie of the Year: Kajetan "kaajak" Haremski
• Duelist of the Year: Kajetan "kaajak" Haremski
• Sentinel of the Year: Emir "Alfajer" Beder
• Controller of the Year: Uğur "Ruxic" Güç
• Initiator of the Year: Enes "RieNs" Ecirli
• In-Game Leader of the Year: Jake "Boaster" Howlett
• Most Improved Player: Kajetan "kaajak" Haremski
• Coach of the Year: Milan "Milan" de Meij

Fnatic dominated the 2025 VCT EMEA Awards, with kaajak emerging as the biggest breakout star of the year. The Polish rookie made history by sweeping every award he was eligible for, marking an incredible debut season at the top level.

Despite their domestic dominance, Fnatic finished as runners-up in three consecutive international tournaments in 2025, something that might be fuel for the upcoming season.

VCT Pacific Awards Winners

• Player of the Year: Jason "f0rsakeN" Susanto
• Rookie of the Year: Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza
• Duelist of the Year: Ilya "something" Petrov
• Sentinel of the Year: Khalish "d4v41" Rusyaidee
• Controller of the Year: Kim "MaKo" Myeong-kwan
• Initiator of the Year: Patrick "PatMen" Mendoza
• In-Game Leader of the Year: Ngô "Crazyguy" Công Anh
• Most Improved Player: Hyun-min " HYUNMIN" Song
• Coach of the Year: Alex "alecks" Salle

The Pacific region almost turned into a Paper Rex sweep, with the team collecting nearly every major award. Each PRX member, apart from Wang "Jinggg" Jing Jie, secured an individual honor, illustrating once again why they're constantly being referred to as "The Kings of Pacific."

VCT China Awards

• Player of the Year: Wang "whzy" Haozhe
• Duelist of the Year: Wang "whzy" Haozhe
• Sentinel of the Year: Ilya "vo0kashu" Ushakov
• Controller of the Year: Teng "happywei" Minwei
• Initiator of the Year: Marcus "nephh" Tan
• In-Game Leader of the Year: Marcus "nephh" Tan
• Coach of the Year: Lee "bail" Sung-jae

Similar to the Pacific, Bilibili Gaming ended up sweeping most the awards because of their spectacular performance in VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - China Stage 2. whzy managed to get both Player of the Year, as well as Duelist of the Year. But XLG Esports and Dragon Ranger Gaming did manage to steal away two of the awards.

The 2025 VCT Season Awards not only celebrated individual brilliance but also reflected the evolving storylines of each region, from aspas’ continued reign in the Americas to kaajak’s explosive rookie season in EMEA and Paper Rex’s dominance in the Pacific. As the 2025 season comes to an end, all eyes are now on 2026, with a new format, new rosters, and maybe a new contender for Champions.

For all things VCT-related, make sure to stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG as we continue to update you with the freshest game and esports news.

Featured Image Source: Riot Games