LOUD sign Romanilly as Head Coach ahead of the VCT 2026 season

LOUD has officially signed Gonzalo "Romanilly" Manzano to be their Head Coach for the upcoming VCT 2026 season.

LOUD initially showed promise at the start of the VCT 2025 season when the team clawed their way to a formidable 5th-6th place finish at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Americas Kickoff. However, the team’s ability to close out matches became evident as they struggled to pick up a single win in VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Americas Stage 1, despite several close matches. They ultimately finished their season off by winning one singular match in VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Americas Stage 2 before ultimately falling short of the playoffs. As a result, LOUD has officially looked for a new Head Coach in Romanilly to lead the team to better results in the VCT 2026 season.

Who is Romanilly?

Romanilly previously served as the Head Coach of E-Xolos LAZER throughout the VCL 2025 season, where he led the team to success in the Tier 2 LATAM region. Unfortunately, the team barely missed out on qualifying for VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Ascension Americas.

Now, he will be reunited with his former E-Xolos LAZER players in Leandro "Virtyy" Moreno and Sebastián "Darker" Cicuamia, with the latter joining the organization ahead of the VCT 2026 season. The three of them together will be looking to reignite their days at E-Xolos and continue on with LOUD in the VCT Americas league.

It will be interesting to see whether Romanilly can continue his winning ways at the Tier 1 level with LOUD, who will be looking to improve upon their VCT 2025 season. For now, the new iteration of LOUD will use the remainder of the offseason to prepare for their first challenge of the VCT 2026 season at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Americas Kickoff. They will make their debut on January 15, 2026.

Be sure to follow THESPIKE.GG for more VALORANT offseason content like this as we head closer to the start of the VCT 2026 season.

Cover image via LOUD X