French esports organization Gentle Mates has officially confirmed their departure from Counter-Strike 2, releasing their Spanish lineup ahead of the Esports World Cup 2026 Last Chance Qualifier. The move had been widely anticipated, with reports emerging as early as June indicating the organization was actively seeking buyers for the roster.
Despite initial interest from multiple organizations, no deal materialized. The players have now returned to competing under the Iberian Soul banner, the same tag they used in 2025 before joining Gentle Mates.
The decision follows a challenging period for the Spanish squad. They failed to qualify for both the PGL Bucharest and IEM Cologne Majors, dropping to 46th place in the world rankings according to VRS. While the team showed promise in several smaller online and offline tournaments, their results were insufficient to justify continued investment from Gentle Mates.
The organization's exit also coincides with reported revenue declines from Major stickers following Valve's new business model implementation at Cologne.
Following their release, Iberian Soul has brought in Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel as a stand-in and Daniel "djL" Narancic as coach for the EWC LCQ. Team captain Alejandro "alex" Masanet confirmed to HLTV that CRUC1AL's stint with the team will conclude after the qualifier.
The Iberian Soul roster competing at the EWC LCQ features alex, Pere "sausol" Solsona, David "dav1g" Granado, Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández-Quejo, with CRUC1AL standing in and djL coaching.
