Counter-Strike’s night of glamour kicked off the 2026 season once again with the fourth iteration of the HLTV Awards. With 17 awards, including Community and Panel-voted ones, the event was a celebration of everything that happened in CS2 in 2025. Vitality’s 2025 was dominant as can be, and the team capped the year with a sweep of the awards as well. Here is every winner for the HLTV Awards 2025.
HLTV Awards 2025 winners
Here are all the winners for the HLTV Awards 2025
- Talent of the Year – James Banks
- Event of the Year – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025
- Streamer of the Year – ohnePixel
- Creator of the Year – dima_aimbots
- Skin of the Year – AWP | Printstream (JTPNZ)
- Opener of the Year – donk
- Closer of the Year – ropz
- Anchor of the Year – mezii
- AWPer of the Year – ZywOo
- IGL of the Year – apEX
- Coach of the Year – XTQZZZ
- Highlight of the Year – donk 1v5
- Rookie of the Year – molodoy
- Women’s Team of the Year – BIG Equipa
- Team of the Year – Vitality
- Women’s Player of the Year – ASTRA
- Player of the Year – ZywOo
Community Awards – ohnePixel completes his three-peat
Kicking the show off were the community voted categories. From Talent, Creator and Streamer of the year to Skin of the Year, these awards honor the best parts of the CS community through direct fan voting.
Talent of the Year – BanKs
James “BanKs” Banks is always a community favorite and 2025 was no different. For a second year in a row, the British stage host and interviewer was chosen as the Talent of the Year ahead of Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill and Freya “Freya” Spiers.
Event of the Year – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025
Unexpectedly, given the vast amount of technical issues, StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 edged out BLAST.tv Austin Major and IEM Cologne 2025 by just a few percentage of community votes to secure the HLTV Award for Event of the Year.
The event, which was the first to feature best-of-five finals, was the cherry on top of Vitality’s incredible 2025, cementing them as the team of the year.
Streamer of the Year – ohnePixel
Counter-Strike streaming has become synonymous with the German superstar and Mark “ohnePixel” Zimmermann once again comfortably secured the nod for Streamer of the Year with over 59% of the fan votes. The streamer, who also topped the charts for his VALORANT Champions co-streaming, has been the winner of the Streamer of the Year award for three years in a row.
Creator of the Year – dima_aimbots
dima_aimbots became the winner of HLTV’s Creator of the Year award securing over 50% of the votes. The Lithuanian streamer beat out CS legend NadeKing, who won the award in 2024, and Swedish fragmovie creator Virre.
Skin of the Year – AWP | Printstream (JTPNZ)
Since the release of the original Desert Eagle Printstream in 2020, the design has been an absolute fan favorite with everyone from pro players to casuals clamoring for it. So combining that with the legendary AWP was a surefire hit. JTPNZ, the creator of the skin secured the award as the designer of the Skin of the Year.
HLTV Awards 2025 panel awards winners
Moving into the Sava Arena, the panel awards were the centre of focus. Vitality swept this portion of the awards, winning in every category but Opener of the Year which of course went to donk.
Opener of the Year – donk
Ever since his rookie year in 2024, there has been no contest for the opener title. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets is statistically the best player in the world in any role, and with an AK in his hands, he can mow down three in a row with ease. On top of that, the young prodigy is a master of movement, spray control, and can even Ace with the AWP. After a 2025 that saw Spirit pale in comparison to Vitality’s dominance, donk still emerged as the winner of the Opener of the Year.
Closer of the Year – ropz
Robin “ropz” Kool, is apparently the cheat code that makes every team into the world number one. After helping MOUZ and FaZe to championships in previous years, the Estonian rifler made the jump to Vitality for 2025 and instantly changed the team’s fate. From an underperforming juggernaut, the team transformed into one of the greatest rosters of all time, rewarding ropz with two more Majors and countless trophies. And given the player’s individual supremacy throughout that run, it’s little surprise that he secures Closer of the Year for 2025 as well.
Anchor of the Year – mezii
The United Kingdom was once a powerful Counter-Strike nation, but in CS:GO and CS2 the scene’s stars sputtered out rather quickly. But William “mezii” Merriman was a breath of fresh air when he joined Cloud9’s collosus in 2020. Since then the player has gone from upcoming star, to the perfect anchor for Vitality. Buying time, using utility, and delaying executes, these are the traits of the best in these roles, and mezii excels across the board.
AWPer of the Year – ZywOo
With the year he’s had, was there any real doubt that Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut wouldn’t win the AWPer of the Year award? Bursting onto the scene in 2019 and snatching Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s #1 was one thing, but since then the French prodigy has maintained an incredible level of performance, always being in contention for the award even when his team has struggled.
IGL of the Year – apEX
In yesteryear, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire would have been a nominee for Opener of the Year instead. But ever since the mantle of leader was thrust onto his shoulders in 2020, apEX has developed his tactical style beautifully. And 2025 paid him the dividends of all those years of effort, as he led Vitality to devastating success in every tournament. With three majors as an IGL in his trophy cabinet, he is quickly making a case for being the greatest IGL in all of Counter-Strike history.
Coach of the Year – XTQZZZ
Possibly the most hotly debated award in the lineup, Coach of the Year is always one that features a large amount of speculation on the part of both the community and the voting panel. Without the communications for a team, no one can truly say how much a coach contributed, but with a resume as stacked as Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam’s, few could vote against him.
Highlight of the Year – donk 1v5
When you’re as good as donk is, generating highlights become routine. But his 1v5 against Vitality at the BLAST Rivals S2, stood out from the lot. For a second year in a row the youngster took home HLTV Awards’ Highlight of the Year with an ace clutch. Much like his eloquent speech in 2024, donk had just a few words to share on the topic.
I just f***in’ destroyed them — donk
HLTV Awards 2025 Winners – Rookie, Team, and Women’s awards
Rounding out the awards were the categories that HLTV decides itself. Rookie of the year, Team of the Year, and the various Women’s awards, all culminating with the much awaited Player of the Year award.
Rookie of the Year – molodoy
Considering Danil “molodoy” Golubenko was competing for MVP medals across the second season of 2025, some may forget that the Kazakh AWPer was a rookie. In just a few months he has had a sensational rise through the ranks of Counter-Strike, and deservedly secured the Rookie of the Year award alongside his top six placement on the Top 20 list.
Women’s Team of the Year – BIG Equipa
ESL may have sunsetted the Impact programme, but the Women’s scene had one of its most exciting years in 2025. After the dominance of Imperial Valkyries finally came to an end, other teams found success and lifted trophies. BIG Equipa won the final season of the Impact league, alongside two ELITE FE events, and were a consistent playoffs threat across the year, cementing themselves as the team of the year.
Team of the Year – Vitality
Vitality’s sheer dominance is impossible to explain. 30 consecutive LAN wins, 9 trophies, back-to-back Major wins and the ESL Grand Slam, there was little more Vitality could achieve, at least in the first season. There will be many debates on their final standing in the history of Counter-Strike, but the team has without a doubt cemented themselves as one of the greatest rosters to ever play the game.
The goal is to be the best team in Counter-Strike, ever. — apEX
Women’s Player of the Year – ASTRA
Much like Imperial Valkyries, Ana “ANa” Dumbravă had maintained a tight grasp on the player of the year title till 2025. But Mayline “ASTRA” Champliaud’s 1.16 rating and incredible rifle play, especially on lurks, helped BIG Equipa achieve their success across the year. On top of that, the 25-year-old also served as the team’s In-Game Leader, further cementing her impact on the roster.
Player of the Year – ZywOo
While donk will remain the statistically stronger player across 2025, ZywOo’s achievements and prowess on the sniper rifle earned him the nod for HLTV’s #1 Player of the Year. Compared to 2024, the French prodigy picked up the AWP a lot more in pressure matches, driving Vitality through the playoffs of every event they played.
HLTV Top 20 Complete List
With ZywOo taking the #1 spot, the final list for the HLTV Top 20 is as follows:
- Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
- Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
- Robin “ropz” Kool
- Russia Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
- Russia Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
- Kazakhstan Danil “molodoy” Golubenko
- Israel Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
- Slovakia David “frozen” Čerňanský
- Brazil Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
- Israel Lotan “Spinx” Giladi
- Canada Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
- United Kingdom William “mezii” Merriman
- Mongolia Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold
- Turkey Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
- Latvia Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis
- Israel Dorian “xertioN” Berman
- Hungary Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás
- Bosnia and Herzegovina Nikola ”NiKo” Kovač
- Romania Mihai “iM” Ivan
- Ukraine Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy
During the pre-show the players ranked #21 to #30 were also revealed. Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko in particular barely missed out on the ranking, despite his impressive BLAST Open London MVP.
- Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko (21)
- Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin (22)
- Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov (23)
- Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın (24)
- Yuri “yuurih” Boian (25)
- Drin “makazze” Shaqiri (26)
- Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch (27)
- Matúš “matys” Šimko (28)
- Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich (29)
- Bruno “latto” Rebelatto (30)
HLTV x 1xBET Hall of Fame inducts three more legends
Alongside the award winners, the ceremony also inducted three legends of Counter-Strike into the Hall of Fame. These players not only etch their names in CS‘ illustrious history, but were also gifted special Rolex watches by esports bookmaker 1xBET to honor their achievement.
- Raphael “cogu” Camargo (MIBR 1.6)
- Yehor “markeloff” Markelov (NAVI 1.6)
- Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson (Fnatic, FaZe CS:GO)
With 17 Awards, 3 Hall of Fame inductees, and Counter-Strike’s cream of the crop in attendance, HLTV Awards wrapped up the 2025 season, as CS2 heads into BLAST Bounty Season 1 in just a few days.
