"At least give us one opportunity" - Coach Fury on the State of South African Valorant

Six years on from the game’s launch, VALORANT continues to grow and inspire new generations of players with its dizzying heights — selling a dream that one day, just maybe, they could stand at the pinnacle of the game’s competitive scene and do the same for another. But for a country like South Africa (ZA), the VALORANT dream is a pipe dream.

South African coach Matthew “Fury” Kruger sat down with Strafe Esports for the second part of an interview to speak on the VALORANT competitive scene in his home country, the struggles they face as one of many small countries in the VALORANT ecosystem, and on his hopes for improvement.

*The following interview has been lightly edited for readability.

South Africa: A Far Cry from Tier 1 VALORANT

Americas, Europe, Asia. These are the regions one thinks of when they think top-level competitive VALORANT. Well, where does South Africa fit into that equation?

Unlike the more prominent regions, South Africa has never received the level of nurture or development since VALORANT’s inception. Instead, they’ve been largely left to their own devices, a kingdom unto their own, so to speak.

"As far as I know, and for how long I've competed, there has not been a league [for VALORANT]. There has been very little investment from Riot. I believe the only tournament that we have had was the Carry1st tournament years ago, which was sponsored by Riot and was the biggest prize pool we've ever seen. But it didn't lead anywhere. 

We also don't have Premier in South Africa; we've been excluded from that as well as there are no Cape Town servers for Premier to this day. If any team wants to participate in Premier, we have to continuously play on 160 ping."

So, no tournaments and no proper 'Premier to Pro' pathway. For 4 years since VALORANT launched globally, South African players competed on European servers such as London, playing at 160 ping. In 2024, Riot introduced the Cape Town servers. But in the absence of nurture for so long, one has to wonder how the South African scene has continued to develop.

A Hostile Domestic Scene?

Due to South Africa's relative isolation to the wider VALORANT professional circuit and even the game, Fury noted how prevalent it was in his home scene to 'manipulate' both rank and tournaments — partially borne out of desperation.

"Countless stories of ‘this player caught cheating during a tournament’, or 'that player got banned’, ‘screen sharing’, ‘someone didn’t like the tournament organizers and there was a feud over that’, or ‘rank manipulation with win trading’ […] 

Also, in this sort of scene, you could identify everyone’s alt account by the way they spoke, gameplay, certain players using certain lineups. And if you didn’t like this guy, you’d just throw his game. If any player was known to have just signed a contract and they’re getting paid over you, they start getting targeted.”

The introduction of the Cape Town servers in 2024 led to further division in the South African professional scene. "You have your old guard and your new generation," he said. 

The ‘old guard’, as he described, were those early faces who entered the South African competitive VALORANT scene back in 2021. “They were who learned to play the game to a higher level while competing on 160 ping,” Fury explained. “They have the experience playing against top level EMEA teams from back in the day and they continue to try and emulate how South Africa played back then.

"If you were part of the old guard, you were looked at almost fondly, especially among the top players."

The ‘new generation’, he explained, came with the renewed wave accompanying the Cape Town server installation. “There seemed to be an influx of players from other games such as Fortnite and other battle royales, more mechanically skilled younger generation of players who weren’t in the first wave when VALORANT first came out.”

“When you look at the top players and anyone who can compete at a higher level, we have a lot less players than if you count the entire Tier 3 to Tier 1 overseas. That means that the top players all know each other and they sort of keep to themselves in this closed circle.”

Fury described the division as a threshold every rising South African talent would meet on their climb upwards. “If you’re a new player coming in and joining, it’s almost like you have to prove yourself to them,” he said. “You see nothing official, but they’re all friends,” he continued. “They’ve all seen each other at LANs and competed on stage. So, it makes it a lot harder for newer and younger talent to join in.”

“If one player doesn’t rate you, then it spreads amongst the others. So, you pretty much have one, maybe two chances of getting in or you are completely abandoned in the scene.”

Where Are the Orgs? Where Is Riot?

Organizations are the lifeblood of any domestic esports' scene. Karmine Corp in France. Cloud9 in North America. Paper Rex in Southeast Asia. Over the years, both individuals and teams from South Africa have found international notoriety. 

However, a drought has persisted for VALORANT in South Africa, despite the passion from the community. South African organizations such as Bravado, Goliath, Energy, ATK, and Kitsune are all familiar names to fans of esports, but their endeavors in VALORANT have never lasted long.

“Most of these organizations did start off with a VALORANT team but what I’ve noticed is those other longer-lasting games have got South African servers, and have had them for a while, that they could culminate and grow a community that could experience playing against an international field.”

“South Africa has been neglected for years on end,” says Fury. “There’s been almost no opportunity for players to go from South Africa and compete overseas.” Even with the expected changes coming to the VCT in 2027, Fury said there was no plan for South Africa to get an open qualifier. 

Released information has confirmed that South Africa would be relegated under the umbrella of the new VCT EMEA, which includes Europe, Turkey, and MENA as the 3 regions.

“We get so isolated, no funding comes in from VCT or Europe or any other major league. That means lack of money and finances, leading to a community that remains unstable. Most people don’t value being paid by a roster because the South African rand is so weak that being paid in it still won’t be enough for players to live off.

We find a lot of our players retire early and very young. A lot of orgs then start looking and seeing prize money is getting low, sponsorships are getting low. It’s not worth the investment anymore to invest in South African VALORANT if we get ignored by the VCT and there is no path to grow.”

As early as VALORANT launched globally, domestic tournaments of all sizes began cropping up, the early seedlings of the competitive esports scene. Riot would then take the reins and nurture with structured tournaments. However, in the case for South Africa, mentions of official tournaments are few and far between even as early as 2021.

"I think Riot underestimates how much sport is valued in South Africa."

Even with the restructuring that came at the end of 2022, neither South Africa nor the Sub-Saharan region saw a Challenger League — the closest being MENA leagues where some North African teams made appearances in. 

"We were never really given a shot by Riot [...] Through interviews with Leo Faria, I've gathered that he believes there aren't enough players in terms of a player base to warrant over a slot [...] But my question would be if investment has never gone into a region, why would that region's player base ever go towards VALORANT."

"It's a recurring problem", he claims. "If there's no money in VALORANT, no one will play VALORANT. But if no one plays VALORANT, there won't be any money in VALORANT." 

"At least give us one opportunity. Even if it's just to send one team to an international cup overseas. Riot doesn't have to host a whole international cup for this region."

What Makes the South African VALORANT Scene Worth It? 

It's not all doom and gloom, however. While the region has faced plenty of challenges on their path to earning esports recognition, they are also front runners when it comes to developing talent from a young age.

"The African school leagues have laid a great foundation for schools to get more into esports. I think we are one of the leading countries just in terms of high school esports as well as university esports."

"I remember driving 10 hours away to the other side of the country," Fury recalls. "We travelled to go play against a school in esports, in a hall full of a thousand spectators.

He continued: "There were cheerleaders and everything behind it, and it was streamed in public, the same as some of the other sports do in South Africa. We felt like we actually achieved something, that this was something to look forward to."

"It remains one of the highlights of my career. It was just a school league, but it meant so much to me [...] Other countries have grassroots, but the big jump is actively getting them on-stage." 

The scrim culture is another huge departure from the European approach. Within the enclosed South African competitive scene, Fury detailed his experience:

"You know your opponents and get to develop that personal connection with them. Oftentimes I find myself in a call later with a captain or IGL or coach from the opposing side to discuss the game from their point of view and things that they've picked up on... weaknesses and strengths from my own team [...]

I'd do VOD reviews with our opponents, see what they're thinking, 'what key triggers made them make this decision', 'how could we hide it better', 'what did we do well', 'what caught them by surprise' [...] It's allowed us to build and develop a lot faster." 

When asked what he thought South Africa's 'selling point' was to incentivize Riot investing in the country/Sub-Saharan region, he had this to say:

"When South African sports are broadcasted, it's watched from players across all sports, including people who don't understand the game [...] A lot of them just love watching sports, they love supporting a team, and South Africans love to support other South Africans." 

"If you look at the Challengers Leagues, they're all local to a specific region," he asserted. "But there is nothing for South Africa. If any South African team wished to compete in a Challengers League, they'd either need to compete on a server where it is completely unplayable or travel overseas without any investment. 

South Africa VALORANT: Fighting for Recognition

"I believe there are only 5 of us," Fury said in reference to South African talent that has broken past the barrier. "It costs an entire monthly wage just to go home [...] combined with finding means of residency and the odds of having the physiological advantage to be a top player in South Africa [...] You're looking at very low percentages," he concluded.

“I’d say the state of the community at the moment can only really be described as toxic at times, but with an undertone of hope. There is still hope among certain players and amongst the right people that there is a way to get out.

And I still believe that there is definitely talent amongst the top players […] It’s not much, there’s one or two things they have to fix, but they never learn from it because everyone’s playing to get a higher rank.

It becomes a competition of who makes the best ranked team, not who plays the best VALORANT esports, which is quite sad. But at the same time, it’s all they know. So, can you really blame them?”

"The first step is that people need to say something about it," he says wryly when asked how he hoped the narrative would change when people spoke about South African VALORANT in the years to come. 

"No one speaks about our region. No one ever pays us any attention. And I intend to change that myself with the ENC. I want to prove to the international stage, to those watching, with all the hype built around the ENC, that South Africa is not a joke and we are not to be ignored."

He parts with the following final words: "We are still here and we are still good enough to compete. For a long-term goal, I will only be satisfied once I see a South African represented in Tier 1, either to a signed organization or to an international event, something along those lines. When I see someone representing the South African flag overseas, I will be happy with my work."

---

Don't forget to follow Strafe Esports for the latest news about your favorite esports and to check out our X account for the most recent content and coverage. Also, stay tuned to the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, press conferences, and much more.

Featured Image Credit: Image exclusive to Strafe Esports