HLTV Awards Finalists revealed: Where will Vitality most likely, and possibly not, win?
One of Counter-Strike’s most significant award shows, the HLTV Awards, has confirmed finalists for all categories.
Thanks to their groundbreaking 2025 record, Team Vitality is predicted to take home several awards. Meanwhile, breakout performances on FURIA may also win the Brazilian team recognition.
Although Team Vitality are likely to sweep several categories, there are other players, coaches, and Counter-Strike icons who still have space to shine.
HLTV Panel Award Categories: All Finalists:
The HLTV Awards panellists have confirmed the finals for all HLTV Panel Award categories.
Overall, HLTV’s panel consists of twenty professional players or coaches, ten Counter-Strike talents, and five in-house staff. This panel has been voting on the award shortlists since December 22nd.
Notably, Team Vitality have a finalist in every HLTV Panel Award Category.
The team’s dominating 2025 performance recently concluded with claiming back-to-back Major trophies.
In an interview with Esports News UK, Team Vitality’s mezii noted, “It’s crazy to be part of a team now that’s had a season that’s maybe even better than theirs,” comparing Vitality in 2025 to Astralis’ historic 2018 record.
Interestingly, the discourse surrounding Coach of the Year has incited commentary from broadcast talent, journalists, and even players.
A post thread on comparing The MongolZ’s maaRaa with Vitality’s XTQZZZ, including discussion over contextual influences to coaching success, prompted Vitality IGL apEX to question “how much XTQZZZ needs to win to get coach of the year?”
Esports journalist Richard Lewis responded, “For Mongolz they have a number of handicaps and hurdles to clear that your team doesn’t and yet they’ve managed to remain competitive at the highest level and even hit number one in the world ranking this year.”
Given these differing perspectives, it will be interesting to see which coach emerges with the HLTV Award in hand.
Complete list of HLTV Awards Panel Nominees:
Closer of the Year:
- David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský
- Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato
- Robin ‘’ropz’ Kool
Opener of the Year:
- Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets
- Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan
- Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis
Anchor of the Year:
- Valeriy ‘b1t’ Vakhovskiy
- Nikita ‘HeavyGod’ Martynenko
- William ‘mezii’ Merriman
IGL of the Year:
- Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire
- Garidmagnai ‘bLitz’ Byambasuren
- Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo
AWPer of the Year:
- Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov
- Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov
- Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut
Coach of the Year:
- Sergey ‘hally’ Shavaev
- Erdenedalai ‘maaRaa’ Bayanbat
- Rémy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam
Highlight of the Year:
- “1v5 vs Vitality” – donk
- “2 second Ace vs 3DMAX” – ropz
- “4k (1v3) vs NAVI” – Twistzz
HLTV-decided Awards
Alongside the panel-determined awards, several awards are decided by HLTV themselves. This group includes Rookie of the Year, Team of the Year, Player of the Year, and the HLTV Awards for Women’s Counter-Strike.
The Player of the Year finalists are the only ones who have not yet been publicly confirmed. Despite this, ZywoO has been given a 94% chance of winning the award, thanks to his incredible consistency and performances at this year’s most prestigious tournaments.
Rookie of the Year will be a more hotly contested category at the HLTV Awards.
While kyousuke has displayed incredible raw talent after signing to Team Falcons from Team Spirit Academy, benching Magisk, many feel his team have held him back from true success.
Meanwhile, molodoy has been hailed as a transformative presence for FURIA, placing him as a favourite to win at the HLTV Awards for many. However, FURIA’s lack of trophies in the first half of 2025 may hinder this goal.
Alternatively, makazze has been a relatively consistent player in his growth on NAVI. However, he also may also be limited by his team’s overall performance throughout the year.
While women’s Counter-Strike is being highlighted at this year’s HLTV Awards, the future of the competitive scene is currently overcast.
The ESL Impact CS2 Women’s Circuit is now indefinitely suspended following the conclusion of Season 8.
Complete list of HLTV Nominees:
Rookie of the Year:
- Maxim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin
- Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri
- Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko
Team of the Year:
- MOUZ
- Team Spirit
- Team Vitality
Player of the Year:
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
Women’s Player of the Year:
- Mayline-Joy ‘ASTRA’ Champliaud
- Bruna ‘bizinha’ Marvila
- Wiktoria ‘vicu’ Janicka
Women’s Team of the Year:
- BIG EQUIPA
- FURIA fe
- MIBR fe
HLTV Awards Community Award Finalists:
Alongside panel and HLTV-determined awards, the Counter-Strike community also has its voice heard through the HLTV Awards Community Nominations.
Overall, the community will determine the best broadcast talent, streamer, content creator, event, and CS skin of 2025.
Complete list of HLTV Awards Community Nominees:
Talent of the Year:
- Freya ‘Freya’ Spiers
- Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill
- James ‘BanKs’ Banks
Streamer of the Year:
- Vadim ‘Evelone192’ Kozakov
- Erik ‘fl0m’ Flom
- Mark ‘ohnePixel’ Zimmermann
Creator of the Year:
- Dima_aimbots
- NadeKing
- Virre CS2
Event of the Year:
- BLAST.tv Austin Major
- IEM Cologne 2025
- StarLadder Budapest Major
Skin of the Year:
- AWP Printstream (JTPNZ)
- Glock-18 Shinobu (Horameow)
- M4A4 Full Throttle (dwern)
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