Vitality's Paris headquarters looted: trophies and computer equipment stolen during protests
A week after lifting the ESL Pro League trophy in Katowice, Team Vitality have had the worst possible weekend away from the server. V.Hive, the club's headquarters on Boulevard de Sébastopol in central Paris, was broken into and looted on the night of Saturday 17 October.
What happened
It happened during the demonstrations currently sweeping the French capital, called over the cost of living and the state of France's lycées, where students have spent weeks protesting staff shortages and run-down facilities.
Videos that began circulating the same night show a group of masked people smashing the venue's windows and going inside. Clothing and club merchandise were carried out, along with at least one monitor and several Vitality-branded gaming chairs, one of which ended up on a fire in the middle of the street. Some of the training equipment was also damaged.
💔 More footage from France shows Vitality's gaming chairs being set on fire and people looting merchandise from their gaming venue Really sad to see the destruction continue https://t.co/uN8Y9kjrXM
— NarT (@NartOutHere) October 17, 2026
No injuries, venue closed
The good news is that nobody was hurt. V.Hive was closed to both the public and staff at the time, as the venue's manager confirmed.
On Sunday, Vitality issued an official statement confirming the destroyed windows and the theft of trophies and computer equipment, without yet detailing which items are missing. The club said the venue will stay closed while the damage is assessed and gave no reopening date.
The StarSeries trophy and an eBay auction
A video circulating online shows someone apparently carrying off the StarSeries Fall 2026 trophy, the title Vitality won last September. The club, however, has not confirmed that this specific piece is among the stolen items.
Then came an even stranger twist. On Sunday a screenshot began doing the rounds of an eBay auction listed as a "stolen" Vitality StarLadder trophy, located in Paris, with six bids and an offer of €1,250 at the time it was captured. The listing's authenticity is unverified, and neither Vitality nor eBay has commented on it.
The club's response
Vitality CEO Fabien "Neo" Devide responded on X with a measured message. He thanked those who stand up for their convictions and defended the right to protest, but stressed that looting and destruction should have no place in those struggles. He also said that watching it felt like seeing "a part of himself" go up in smoke, and that it had left him deeply saddened.
A bad moment for the club
The blow lands in a delicate week. Vitality are coming off their ESL Pro League S24 win and open PGL Masters Bucharest against 9z on Saturday 24, an event they'll play without apEX. Now they have to prepare for it with their home closed and still waiting to find out how much they've lost.
Source: HLTV, Team Vitality, Esports Insider, TalkEsport, Strafe.