Team Vitality have confirmed that Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev is leaving their VALORANT roster, closing a two-season chapter that peaked with a run to the Champions Shanghai grand final. The French organisation broke the news in a farewell video on X, calling the Finnish duelist “the player who helped shape Vitality’s legacy”.
The decision leaves Vitality with four players under the 2027 banner and one obvious hole to fill. It also adds one of the biggest names in EMEA to an off-season market that was already busy, as covered in our round-up of the early VALORANT off-season exits.
The player who helped shape Vitality’s legacy
You brought us our first VCT trophy, took us to our first Champions Grand Finals, and never stopped fighting for more.
Thank you Derke 💛 we will always remember your time as a bee. pic.x.com/v7byAiD1Oa
Team Vitality VALORANT (@TeamVitalityVAL) October 24, 2026
From FNATIC star to Vitality headliner
Derke arrived at Vitality in October 2024 with a reputation few duelists could match. He had spent his first four years in professional VALORANT at FNATIC, where he won LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo in 2023, two international titles in a row.
His first year in yellow and black did not go to plan. According to VLR.gg, the 2025 line-up built around Derke, Less and Sayf took fourth place at Masters Bangkok, then faded in EMEA. They were knocked out in the top eight of both regional stages and never made it back to an international event that year.
A rebuilt roster and a Champions final
Vitality started again for 2026. Chronicle joined from FNATIC, while Jamppi and PROFEK were signed from BBL Esports. The team was only fifth at Kickoff while it waited for Sayonara to turn 18, but once the Romanian was eligible the results improved quickly: runner-up in Stage 1, then a fourth-place finish at Masters London.
Qualification for Champions Shanghai was tight. Vitality made an early exit from the Stage 2 playoffs and only reached China as EMEA’s fourth seed thanks to their points total. Once there, their only defeats came against LOUD, and they reached the grand final, where they lost 3-1 to LOUD, who became the first organisation to win Champions twice. Vitality had beaten LOUD earlier in the event, and the final was the club’s first appearance on the last day of a Champions.
Who is left, and what comes next
Without Derke, the active Vitality roster is Jamppi, PROFEK, Chronicle and Sayonara. Coaches PAL and Scuttt, analyst slk and manager Bangovic remain on the staff. The club has already been confirmed as a VCT partnered team for 2027.
Neither the club nor the player has said where Derke will go next. With many VCT contracts running out on November 2, the coming fortnight is likely to decide both his next team and the shape of the Vitality line-up that will try to go one better than Shanghai.
