Former TYLOO CS and FPX VAL coach Johnta appointed FENNEL’s head coach

by Juandi May 11, 2022

The former TYLOO CS:GO and FunPlus Phoenix VALORANT skipper will now take charge of the Japanese team.  

JAPAN – FENNEL have announced that they have installed Ivan "Johnta" Shevtsov as the new head coach of their VALORANT team. The 34-year-old Ukrainian will be working in tandem with “Relife”, who has been assisting the team as a coach since May last year. On the same day, FENNEL's lineup for VCT Stage 2 has been finalized with the addition of three Kim "JinboongE" Jin-won, "Kaminari", and "Tonbo", expanding the team to a six-man roster configuration.

“Glad to announce that I will continue my VALORANT career with FENNEL as a Head coach alongside Relife as an in-game coach,” Johnta said in the announcement. “I am going to be focused on creating a system and setting up processes that will bring the club to the next level.” 

Johnta becomes FENNEL's new head coach(Photo courtesy of HLTV)
Johnta becomes FENNEL's new head coach(Photo courtesy of HLTV)

Johnta arrives with a plethora of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and VALORANT experience from the European and Asian regions, having guided Hansel "BnTeT" Ferdinand’s TYLOO, as well as compatriot Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow in both HellRaisers (CS:GO) and FunPlus Phoenix (VALORANT). His career highlights as a Counter-Strike coach include reaching the top eight of FACEIT Major London 2018 with HellRaisers and winning ESL Pro League Season 9 - Asia with TYLOO, where they beat Kim "stax" Gu-taek’s MVP PK in the finals. 

This will be Johnta’s second coaching stint as coach of an Asian team after he guided TYLOO in 2019. He then returned to the European/CIS circuit to represent various second-tier EU/CIS teams such as Winstrike and Project X before transitioning to VALORANT.

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Johnta formerly worked with Kyryll "ANGE1" Karasyov under HellRaisers, who is currently playing for the world's No. 1 VAL team, according to VLR.gg, FunPlus Phoenix(Photo courtesy of HLTV)
Johnta formerly worked with Kyryll "ANGE1" Karasyov under HellRaisers, who is currently playing for the world's No. 1 VAL team, according to VLR.gg, FunPlus Phoenix(Photo courtesy of HLTV)

The Ukrainian coach joins Jeong "TENSAI" Seung-jin and co. less than a week before their second campaign of the year in VCT Japan Stage 2 Challengers Week 1, which takes place from May 11-23 and features a first-round matchup versus Crest Gaming.

With Johnta’s addition, FENNEL now have:

  • 🇰🇷 Jeong "Jinx" Hong-kyo
  • 🇰🇷 Jeong "TENSAI" Seung-jin
  • 🇰🇷 Kim "JinboongE" Jin-won
  • 🇯🇵 "Kaminari"
  • 🇯🇵 "CLZ"
  • 🇯🇵 "Tonbo"
  • 🇺🇦 Ivan "Johnta" Shevtsov (Head coach)
  • 🇯🇵 "Relife" (Coach)

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Cover photo courtesy of HLTV