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After a hard-fought, nail-biting series, the Americas are once again the kings of VALORANT.
The Accor Arena in Paris, France, witnessed the return of North America’s VALORANT dominance as NRG were crowned the VALORANT Champions 2025 champions. Their cross-Atlantic feud with EMEA’s Fnatic delivered on all fronts, with NRG preventing the reverse sweep to take the trophy.
Coming in as the Americas’ second seed, NRG were by no means slouches. However, they were playing on another level in Champions 2025. First, they topped their group 2-0, then proceeded to make a beeline to the grand finals. They crushed EMEA’s GIANTX and had a close series with America’s fourth seed MIBR before facing Fnatic in the upper bracket final.
Fnatic, on the other hand, have always been the darlings of EMEA but have had a spotty record this year. They failed to make it to Masters Bangkok early in the season, only to rocket upward in the middle. They finished second in both Masters Toronto and the 2025 Esports World Cup before crashing into fifth place in VCT EMEA Stage 2.
It’s only with their accumulated VCT points that they made it to Champions Paris as EMEA’s third seed.
Still, Fnatic were putting up a performance that made them look like Champions 2025 champions material. They topped their group and even got their revenge on the Pacific’s Paper Rex for Masters Toronto along the way. NRG, however, were definitely peaking at the right time as they defeated Fnatic 2-0 to make it to grand finals.
Even after beating the Pacific’s DRX in the lower bracket finals, Fnatic had to dig deep if they wanted to make a dent against NRG. It didn’t look pretty for them at the start of the grand finals as NRG easily got a two-map lead. It was looking like a clean sweep until Fnatic achieved the biggest comeback in VALORANT history to extend the series.
But despite all of Fnatic’s momentum, NRG were just the better team that day. They let all that pressure wash over them as they stonewalled Fnatic at map five. With calm precision, NRG closed the series 3-2 to become the Champions 2025 champions.
Banner photo from VALORANT Champions Tour.