According to a statement by  VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA, the Chinese organization and European roster FunPlus Phoenix will be unable to compete in the upcoming VALORANT Champions Tour 2021: Stage 2 Masters - Reykjavík. The problems arose because current COVID-19 regulations, as well as travel restrictions in Russia and Ukraine. After winning VCT 2022: EMEA Stage 1 Challengers, the team was supposed to represent Europe alongside Fnatic and G2 Esports. However, they will be replaced by Team Liquid, who came in fourth at the event. 

In the statement, it was explained that the tournament organizer was unable to find a solution to secure FunPlus Phoenix's attendance, after exploring many potential answers. "These options included extending the roster lock window, relaxing emergency substitute rules, and liasing with the relevant government officials to secure visas and travel permissions. Unfortunately, and through no fault of their own, FunPlus Phoenix will not be able to field a complete roster in Reykjavik," the announcement reads.  "While we want to be as accommodating as possible, there is a need to ensure a minimum level of roster continuity out of fairness to all participants in the competition.

FunPlus Phoenix entered VALORANT with players from PartyParrots and FABRIKEN, and soon established themselves as one of the top teams in Europe. The lineup includes team captain Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow of Ukraine, as well as Andrey "Shao" Kiprsky and Dmitry "SUYGETSU" Ilyushin hailing from Russia. In addition to their aforementioned win, FPX either won or placed in the top eight of most of the A-Tier and B-Tier VALORANT events in Europe. 

The team is not the first to be directly affected by the conflict with Russia and Ukraine.  The EMEA -circuit was postponed by one week in late February because of the crisis, and teams such as Gambit Esports have chosen to compete in VCT events as an independent team entitled "Masters 3 Champions".