Report: Mexico to field female player for Esports Nations Cup

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Amid the build up to the Esports Nations Cup 2026, sources have tied female player Montserrat "mmonch" Gutierrez from VCT Game Changers to the Mexican national roster. She is the first woman reported to compete in the Esports Nations Cup.

Who is Montserrat "mmonch" Gutierrez? Mexico's reported female Valorant ENC player

Mmonch first competed in Valorant in 2021, quickly making a name for herself with her strong mechanics. In 2022, she completed her first full VCT Game Changer season with Argentinian team FiRePOWER, where she demonstrated her ability to play numerous roles. For three years, Mmonch dominated, winning all VCT Game Changers events in Latin America North.

Although the strongest in Latin America North, Mmonch and her team would consistently lose against the top Southern squad, KRÜ Blaze, in the LATAM final, the qualification path to GC Champs. She ultimately joined the team in 2025 and secured a top-four finish at the Valorant Game Changers Championship 2025, becoming the first Mexican woman to attend the world championship.

Despite their best-ever finish at the Championship, KRÜ decided to rebuilt its roster entirely for the 2026 season; Mmonch found herself on the bench.

Viewership for female competitors competing with men in esports

Women competing alongside men usually generates a lot of attention from viewers. One of such cases is Ava “florescent” Eugene debuting at the VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff last year. Her first match of the Kickoff became the most popular of the entire tournament with over 334,000 Peak Viewers, setting a viewership record according to Esports Charts.

In Counter-Strike, Imperial Valkyries made headlines when the female squad attended tier-one events, competing alongside mens’ squads like NAVI and FaZe Clan. Their game against NAVI almost crested 500,000 concurrent viewers, becoming the most popular game of BLAST Premier Bounty Season 1 2025 Play-In stage and one of the event’s most popular matches overall.

If Mexico can qualify for the Esports Nations Cup, their opening games featuring Mmonch are likely to be highly popular. The ENC qualifiers will begin on June 26 for the Americas, so save the date to see how high Mexico’s viewership can go. 

What is the Esports Nations Cup? When is it taking place?

The Esports Nations Cup is a world-wide, multi-title esports tournament, with national teams competing for the chance of over $17.5M USD spread out across 16 of esports’ top titles. The festival is organized by the Esports World Cup Foundation, who are building on the popularity of the Esports World Cup, where players represent clubs instead of nations.

The Esports Nations Cup esports tournament will take place every two years, rotating to another host country for every edition. 2026 will mark the inaugural edition of the ENC, which will take place this November, although the EWCF are yet to announce the debut location for this esports festival.

Qualifiers for the ENC 2026 tournaments begin at the end of May, with the Rainbow Six Siege qualifiers, and conclude with the ML:BB qualifiers in mid-August. The coming couple of months will be awash with ENC and EWC qualifiers, as the best esports players from around the globe prepare to compete in these festivals.