Gaimin Gladiators have announced the signing of Brazilian AWPer Henrique 'HEN1' Teles. The move comes after the organization released Bruno 'shz' Martinelli earlier the same day; HEN1 will take shz's spot in the active lineup.
The transfer reunites HEN1 with former teammates João 'felps' Vasconcellos and Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian. The three briefly played together on Imperial in 2024, and HEN1 also shared rosters with felps in 2016–2017 during spells at Tempo Storm and Immortals.
HEN1 arrives after a nine-month absence from competition. He was benched by RED Canids in April 2025 following the team's failure to qualify for the BLAST.tv Austin Major. During his stint with RED Canids he posted a 1.10 rating overall but was criticized for uneven form and was largely limited to regional events.
Gaimin Gladiators ended the previous year on a strong run, earning a top-four finish in CCT Season 3 South America Series 6 and capturing the ESL Challenger League Finals, where they defeated 9z and BESTIA en route to the title.
The organization hopes the addition of HEN1 will help the squad progress further on the international stage. Gaimin Gladiators missed out in their attempts to qualify for the StarLadder Budapest Major and currently sit roughly 200 VRS points short of a ticket to IEM Cologne Major 2026, making immediate improvement a priority.
HEN1 will face a difficult debut: Gaimin Gladiators are scheduled to play MIBR at the BetBoom RUSH B Summit on January 14. The match is being viewed as an early test of how quickly the new signing can integrate with the roster.
The Gladiators' current lineup now consists of João 'felps' Vasconcellos, Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato, Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian, Lucas 'bsd' Luan and Henrique 'HEN1' Teles, with João 'horvy' Horvath serving as coach.
Bruno 'shz' Martinelli, who has been released from the team, is currently without an organization. The Gladiators will look to their refreshed five to translate recent domestic successes into stronger international results.
For context on the main figures: HEN1 is 30 years old and registered a 1.10 rating with 1,737 maps played in his recorded career data; felps is 29 with a career rating around 1.07 across more than 1,600 maps; JOTA is 27 with a similar 1.07 rating; NEKIZ is 30 with a career rating near 0.96; and bsd is 24 with a 1.02 rating. These profiles underline a mix of experienced and younger talent in the roster.