Mykhailo Mudryk has grabbed the attention of late amongst the Counter-Strike community, after his alleged Faceit account was discovered.

Sitting on 2213 Elo at Faceit level 10, Mudryk is seemingly no slouch in the server.

bro Mudryk been grinding CS2 FACEIT while off the pitch like a mfaka 😭 pic.twitter.com/ga1PQSCU36

— vancho 🇺🇦 (@luckerezwin) October 20, 2025

The Faceit account shows that the Ukrainian international has played 39 games in October, with 18 wins.

Mudyrk has plenty of time on his hands to enjoy Counter-Strike after the player was suspended following doping allegations.

The 24-year-old winger was formally charged in June 2025 after a banned substance, meldonium, was found in his urine in December 2024.

Mudryk claimed to be unaware of the banned substance in his sample, stating on social media, “This has come as a complete shock as I have never knowingly used any banned substances or broken any rules.”

Currently, there is no public timeframe on when Mudryk could return to the Premier League, but the punishment could be as severe as a four-year ban.

While he awaits the verdict, he can at least continue to grind on Faceit, where his account is in good standing.

But the Chelsea forward is far from the only sports superstar to have an affinity for Valve’s competitive tactical shooter, with several big names displaying love and passion for the esport.

The Premier League connection to Counter-Strike

Oleksandr Zinchenko

Mudryk’s Ukrainian compatriot, Oleksandr Zinchenko, is perhaps the player most currently known for his connection to Counter-Strike.

The Arsenal player is the founder and owner of Passion UA, who this year moved away from their traditional Ukrainian rosters.

The organisation chose to invest in Complexity’s NA-based roster, picking up four of the five players in a project the community has jokingly labelled “Passion NA.”

Complexity subsequently left the Counter-Strike scene after over 20 years of history in the space.

Zinchenko is an avid CS player himself, with his faceit amongst the highest of professional footballers.

He even stood in for Passion UA in a professional match against Bleed when the roster was still a Ukrainian core.

Zinchenko held his own over the series, going 22-26 over three maps.

He has also been known to play with his Arsenal teammate Gabriel Jesus.

Clutch on the field and the server! 😮

Zinchenko 🤝Jesus @PassionuaGG pic.twitter.com/H0rkJW0KZu

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 2, 2024

Casemiro

Manchester United midfield menace, Casemiro, owns and operates Case Esports, which has fielded teams in Counter-Strike, Valorant, and League of Legends.

Case Esports currently do not have a CS2 team, but have competed previously in the Brazilian region.

The former Real Madrid player has a notably expensive Counter-Strike inventory, with skins such as the AWP Gungnir and M4A1 Howl being worth thousands of pounds each.

While the six-figure skins are big money for most, they’re roughly a week’s wages for the Man United star.

David De Gea

Speaking of Manchester United, the Red Devils’ former keeper David De Gea also has a connection to CS.

De Gea founded Rebels Gaming, which has had some limited success in European Tier 2 CS.

The Polish roster qualified for the EU RMR for the Shanghai Major, but failed to qualify.

Since then, the roster has moved to a full Portuguese team, which is still active but currently unranked in the VRS.

De Gea frequently posts stories celebrating his team when they achieve notable wins.

Neal Maupay

Another former Premier League player who has shown an appreciation for Counter-Strike is ex-Brighton and Everton striker Neal Maupay.

The Frenchman has since returned to Ligue 1, however, while still in England, the forward appeared at the BLAST London Premier Finals 2024, where he presented Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire with a special shirt as a gift.

Neymar Jr

Outside of the Premier League, it is well known that Neymar loves Counter-Strike. The player has streamed Counter-Strike often, and is a pretty sharpshooter as well.

Neymar is most closely associated with Furia, whom he has vocally supported since their inception, attending dozens of events in support of the roster.

In February, Neymar became the president of Furia’s 7-a-side Kings League Brazil football team.

https://twitter.com/neymarjr/status/1980012650718232969

F1 stars and Counter-Strike

Lando Norris

McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris grabbed the attention of the Counter-Strike community recently when his Instagram account reshared a clip of a highlight of Spirit’s rifling prodigy Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets.

While Redditors were surprised when Lando shared the clip of donk, Lando has a huge history in esports outside of Counter-Strike, as his brand, Quadrant, was an esports brand for a time.

Quadrant made its most notable esports investments in Rocket League and Halo from 2021-2024, before formally withdrawing from the esports space in 2024.

Since then, Quadrant has been a fashion and content creation brand, focused on Lando’s native space of motorsport.

Norris has also caught the attention of the Counter-Strike community when he revealed in an interview that he watched Ohnepixel.

Lando also appeared recently in Arrow’s Twitch chat, who was streaming live from the Thunderpick World Championship 2025.

Arrow is a close associate of Ohnepixel and a fellow skins-focused streamer.

Lando was messaging from the United States Grand Prix in Austin, where he later finished second, which is also where he sits in the F1 World Drivers’ Championship standings.

Zhou Guanyu

Ferrari reserve driver Zhou Guanyu is also a fan of Counter-Strike and its esports scene.

The former Stake F1 Team driver was a participant in the showmatch for the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major, in his home city.

The Chinese F1 star named his perfect team as Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Justin ‘jks’ Savage, Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken, and Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller, who he has played with casually.

While you may question the wisdom of putting cadiaN on the rifle after his Liquid stint, you have to appreciate a jks enjoyer.