WU Ali's journey from near-retirement to VCT Ascension Americas

Ali "Ali" Salahedin walks into the Winthrop University practice room with his bookbag and laptop in hand. He sets his stuff down, greeting each of his teammates before taking a breath and settling into his setup. On top of being an aspiring professional VALORANT player, Ali spends the majority of his time outside of VALORANT in classes working towards his degree in Computer Science while simultaneously trying to build toward his dream career as a pro VALORANT player.

However, despite his love for competition, he faces the realities of chasing a dream most people fail at.

Giving up on his VALORANT dream

The VCL 2025 - North America: Stage 1 has been an unexpected turn of events for Ali, who had already come to grips with the idea that playing VALORANT professionally wasn’t a reality for him; so much so that he had already planned on retiring as a player to focus on his studies.

“I remember telling Josh Sides, the Director of Esports before this year, that I was done as a player, but I would be down for coaching,” Ali said. “And then he was like, 'You will be the coach of our Academy team’, but then it ended up as me becoming the coach of our main team.”

A full-time Computer Science major minoring in mathematics, Ali highlighted a packed schedule filled with classes surrounding his college major.

“At VCL 2025 - North America: Stage 2, my performance dipped because I had so much work to do and I couldn’t focus solely on VALORANT,” Ali said. “I had a heavy workload balancing school full-time with being a VALORANT player. On top of that, I was still maintaining a lot of the responsibilities I had as a coach as well, so it was tough to balance everything.”

“A part of it was the Tier-2 system not having as much support, but another part of me wanting to retire was just being realistic about my talent,” Ali said.

He recalled his days at Northwood University as a collegiate VALORANT player and remembered thinking to himself that he was “pretty good” at the game, but not good enough to go pro. While VALORANT was something he was incredibly passionate about, the realistic nature in him was looking at the bigger picture and planning for his future.

“I remember just last year I was looking at internships and jobs at Riot Games, trying to really set myself up for the future,” Ali said. “I still loved VALORANT, so I was looking at ways to still be in the scene in ways outside of being a pro VALORANT player.”

However, Winthrop University’s successes throughout the 2025 VALORANT Challengers season marked a change in mentality towards his career as a pro VALORANT player.

Ali remembered the moment Winthrop University had squeezed in as the third seed representing North America at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Ascension Americas. He remembered sitting with his teammates watching the TSM vs QoR match very closely.

“I remember using that series specifically as a moment to see if there were any signs of whether I should just retire or give VALORANT another shot,” Ali said. “I love all the guys at QOR, so if they won, I would have been happy for them making Ascension, and I would move on with life, but when they lost, I saw this as a sign to give this another shot.”

Placing VALORANT as a priority once more

Ali’s priorities have taken a major shift all throughout VCT Ascensions Americas. Usually, his time would be divided between his studies and competing for Winthrop University. However, in Brazil, all of his time has been focused on giving it his all at this tournament.

“I haven’t logged in at all to any of my assignments,” Ali laughed. “I apologize to all of my professors, but I see an opportunity to do something really special. I just want to give this my best shot.”

That performance has been noted throughout VCT Ascension Americas for the third-seeded Winthrop University. After a 5th-6th place finish in the VCL Stage 3 Playoffs, expectations from viewers were set low for the team. However, Winthrop University stands one series away from making it to the top four of the tournament, something that has given Ali a new perspective on his ability to make a dream job a reality.

“I think 2025 was really important towards really reconsidering my path to pro. After Ascension, I will look at my offers before the rosters lock for the VCT 2026 season,” Ali said. “For now, I’m locked in on doing my best here in Brazil.”

Winthrop University will look to make a bid for the VCT Ascension Americas playoffs as they take Brazilian second seed Team Solid for a spot in the playoffs.

That match will take place on October 20, 2025, along with a rematch of the VCL Stage 3 Grand Finals between Team EnVyUS and TSM.

Cover image via Winthrop University