The fifth edition of the HLTV Awards, held in Belgrade, handed out seventeen prizes across three voting categories. Community Awards were decided by fans, Panel Awards were chosen by a jury of professionals, talent and HLTV staff, and HLTV also presented five in-house awards including the headline Player of the Year.
Player of the Year: Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut. The French AWPer capped a trophy-laden season with Vitality, claiming the Player of the Year title. ZywOo helped Vitality to nine event victories in 2025 — including two Majors — and amassed eight MVP awards over the course of the year. He finished ahead of Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets (second) and Robin 'ropz' Kool (third).
Women’s Player of the Year: Mayline-Joy 'ASTRA' Champliaud. ASTRA won the women’s individual accolade after a stellar campaign that culminated in a trophy at ESL Impact Season 8. Her victory ended Ana 'ANa' Dumbravă’s run of three consecutive wins; Wiktoria 'vicu' Janicka took second place and Bruna 'bizinha' Marvila finished third.
Team of the Year: Vitality. The French-led side were named Team of the Year after a consistent 2025 that saw them lift nine trophies and reach the playoffs at every event they entered. Spirit and MOUZ completed the podium in the Team of the Year voting.
Women’s Team of the Year: BIG EQUIPA. Following a summer rebuild and impressive form afterwards, BIG EQUIPA were voted the Women’s Team of the Year. They finished ahead of MIBR fe and FURIA fe in the community and panel tallies.
Rookie of the Year: Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko. The Kazakh AWPer and FURIA revelation won Rookie of the Year after averaging a 1.17 rating across 2025 (1.14 while playing in FURIA) and playing a key role in his team’s titles at FISSURE Playground 2, the Thunderpick World Championship, IEM Chengdu and BLAST Rivals Season 2. Maxim 'kyousuke' Lukin was second and Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri finished third.
Opener of the Year: Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets. Donk picked up Opener of the Year for his impactful entry work for Spirit across the season. He beat Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan and Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis to the award.
Closer of the Year: Robin 'ropz' Kool. Vitality’s ropz was named Closer of the Year thanks to his importance in Vitality’s late-round and clutch situations. He placed ahead of Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato and David 'frozen' Čerňanský.
Anchor of the Year: William 'mezii' Merriman. Another Vitality winner, mezii collected Anchor of the Year for his defensive reliability and positional play. Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko and Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy were the other podium finishers.
AWPer of the Year: Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut. In addition to Player of the Year, ZywOo also secured the AWPer of the Year award, outpacing Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov and Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov for the sniper-specific honour.
IGL of the Year: Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire. Vitality’s in-game leader apEX was recognised as IGL of the Year after steering his team to nine event wins in 2025. Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo and Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren completed the top three.
Coach of the Year: Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam. XTQZZZ claimed Coach of the Year for his role with Vitality, finishing ahead of maaRaa and hally in the coaching category.
All-star Team of the Year. The HLTV All-star selection comprised: Opener — Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets; Closer — Robin 'ropz' Kool; Anchor — William 'mezii' Merriman; AWPer — Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut; IGL — Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire; Coach — Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam. This side represents the individual standouts across roles for the year.
Highlight of the Year: Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets. Donk’s spectacular 1v5 clutch against Vitality at BLAST Rivals Season 2 earned him the Highlight of the Year award, narrowly beating plays from Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken and ropz for the top spot.
Talent of the Year: James 'BanKs' Banks. BanKs secured Talent of the Year for the second consecutive year, finishing ahead of Chad 'SPUNJ' Burchill and Freya Spiers in the public and panel votes.
Event of the Year: StarLadder Budapest Major. Voters chose the StarLadder Budapest Major as Event of the Year, with BLAST.tv Austin Major and IEM Cologne taking second and third places respectively in the community poll.
Streamer of the Year: Mark 'ohnePixel' Zimmermann. ohnePixel won Streamer of the Year for a third straight year, placing ahead of Erik 'fl0m' Flom and Vadim 'Evelone192' Kozakov in the community vote.
Creator of the Year: dima_aimbots. The creator dima_aimbots was voted Creator of the Year for 2025, finishing ahead of 2024 winner NadeKing and Swedish fragmovie maker Virre.
Skin of the Year: JTPNZ — AWP | Printstream. The AWP | Printstream design by JTPNZ took Skin of the Year, followed by Horameow’s Glock-18 | Shinobu in second and dwern’s M4A4 | Full Throttle in third.
Summary: Vitality dominated the awards night in multiple categories, with ZywOo, ropz, mezii, apEX and XTQZZZ all collecting top honours and Vitality being named Team of the Year. Spirit, FURIA, BIG EQUIPA and other organisations and individuals were also celebrated across role-specific and community-voted awards, making the fifth HLTV Awards a broad recognition of standout performances from across both the men’s and women’s scenes in 2025.