ESL launches annual CS:GO Player Awards

Esports tournament organizer ESL has recently revealed its own annual CS:GO player awards ceremony. The CS:GO Player Awards will be held every year at IEM Katowice, with the first edition to debut in 2023. 

Besides the annual ceremony, ESL also plans to hold a one-off award during the IEM Rio 2022, which will decorate the CS:GO player of the decade. 

Player Awards will be decided by CS:GO pros themselves

Unlike other similar award ceremonies, the CS:GO Player Awards won’t have fans or the community vote for their favourite team or player, but rather a small pool of players, together with analysts and commentators will determine the winners in multiple categories. The ceremony will crown the best performing CS:GO athletes in three categories, namely player of the year, team of the year, and breakthrough of the year. 

Nomination and voting process

The commission will reportedly consist of some of the world’s best CS:GO players based on the ESL World Ranking and will vote across a selected shortlist. The preselected shortlist will be based on the average ESL WR rating and the accurate representation of nominees will be verified by analysts and casters. Following the verification, the top players will choose their favorites from the list for each category. Once complete, finalists will be flown for the live award ceremony at IEM Katowice.

Who will win the Player of the Decade award? 

When thinking about who could win the CS:GO Player of the Decade award, Natus Vincere player Aleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev is the name that probably comes to mind first. S1mple has been widely considered one of the best and most accomplished CS:GO players of all time. He has been crowned by HLTV as the best player of 2018 and 2021 and the second-best in 2019 and 2020, along with a plethora of other esports awards. 

During his time with NAVI, he has collected a great number of significant CS:GO trophies, most recently BLAST Premier Spring Finals. Last year was especially successful for the Ukrainian team, having claimed both  BLAST Premier World Final 2020 and 2021, along with PGL Major in Stockholm, ESL Pro League Season 14, IEM XVI in Cologne and DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, among other trophies. The 24-years-old AWPer holds 20 HLTV MVP medals and his approximate total earnings from competitive CS:GO are more than $1.6 million, according to Liquipedia.  

However, he’s not the only player with chance of winning the award, as this decade has seen multiple legendary CS:GO players rise and shine. Team Vitality’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbautas is another legend that’s been reigning in the player rankings in 2019 and 2020 and placed just behind s1mple in 2021. Both players have made the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.

Other finalists that are likely to get on the list for the Player of the Decade award are Nicolai “device” Reedtz and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač.

Header: ESL