ZywOo’s MVP award at ESL Pro League Season 24 was his 34th, 13 more than anyone else in the game’s history. Here is how the all-time list looks, and how the record has changed hands since the first award in 2011.
ZywOo added another MVP medal to his collection on Sunday after leading Vitality to the ESL Pro League Season 24 title in Katowice. It was his sixth MVP of 2026 and the 34th of his career.
No player has come close. s1mple is second with 21 and device third with 19, and neither has won one since 2022. Of the players still active at the top level, donk is the nearest challenger with 13.
The all-time MVP list
The MVP award is handed out by HLTV to the best player at the biggest events of the year. A total of 342 awards have been given out since January 2011, across Counter-Strike 1.6, CS:GO and Counter-Strike 2.
| Rank | Player | MVPs | First MVP | Latest MVP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  ZywOo | 34 | 2019 | 2026 |
| 2 |  s1mple | 21 | 2016 | 2022 |
| 3 |  device | 19 | 2015 | 2021 |
| 4 |  donk | 13 | 2023 | 2026 |
| 5 |  GeT_RiGhT | 10 | 2012 | 2014 |
| 5 | kennyS | 10 | 2013 | 2017 |
| 5 |  NiKo | 10 | 2017 | 2026 |
| 8 | f0rest | 9 | 2011 | 2016 |
| 9 |  coldzera | 8 | 2016 | 2017 |
| 9 |  GuardiaN | 8 | 2014 | 2019 |
| 11 | m0NESY | 7 | 2022 | 2026 |
| 11 |  Snax | 7 | 2014 | 2017 |
| 13 | olofmeister | 6 | 2015 | 2016 |
| 13 |  ropz | 6 | 2019 | 2026 |
| 13 | NEO | 6 | 2011 | 2016 |
Five of the awards in the table were won in Counter-Strike 1.6. Counted only for CS:GO and CS2, f0rest has eight MVPs and NEO two.
Seven years, one team
ZywOo won his first MVP at cs_summit 4 in May 2019, in his first year with Vitality. All 34 of his awards have come in a Vitality jersey.
He has also been consistent. He has won at least one MVP in every year since 2019, and his best seasons have come recently:
- 2025: 8 MVPs, equal to the record for a single year
- 2020: 6 MVPs
- 2026: 6 MVPs so far, with PGL Masters Bucharest and the Singapore Major still to come
- 2019 and 2023: 5 MVPs each
The single-year record of eight is shared by ZywOo (2025) and s1mple (2021). device’s seven in 2018 is the only other season with more than six.
ZywOo also holds the record for MVPs at Valve Majors. He was named MVP at the BLAST.tv Paris Major in 2023, the BLAST.tv Austin Major in 2025 and the StarLadder Budapest Major in 2025. coldzera and device are next with two Major MVPs each.
How the record has changed hands
Only seven players have held the outright lead on the all-time list:
- January 2011: Xizt wins the first HLTV MVP award at the IEM V European Championship Finals in Counter-Strike 1.6.
- April 2011: NEO takes over with his second award and leads through the final years of CS 1.6.
- March 2013: f0rest moves ahead with his fifth award, at Copenhagen Games 2013.
- April 2013: GeT_RiGhT overtakes his Ninjas in Pyjamas teammate three weeks later. With six MVPs in 2013 alone, he holds the record for more than five years.
- November 2018: device passes GeT_RiGhT with his 11th award, at the ECS Season 6 Finals.
- June 2022: s1mple goes clear of device with his 20th, at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals.
- March 2025: ZywOo passes s1mple with his 22nd, at ESL Pro League Season 21.
Since taking the lead 19 months ago, ZywOo has added 12 more awards.
Who can catch him?
donk is the only active player with a pace that compares. The Spirit star won his first MVP in December 2023 and has 13 in less than three years, five of them in 2024 alone. He would still need 21 more just to draw level with ZywOo’s current total.
m0NESY has seven, the latest at the Cologne Major in June, while NiKo is on ten, nine years after his first.
ZywOo turns 26 in November. If he keeps up his average of almost five MVPs a year, the gap at the top will only grow.
