Why ZywOo Won Player of the Year With a Lower Rating Than donk
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The player who posted the highest Big Event rating in the world in 2025 did not win Player of the Year, and the CS2 community largely accepted that outcome, which tells you more about how the HLTV Top 20 actually works than any summary of its criteria would. donk's Big Event rating came in around 1.35, the highest number any player posted across the year, while ZywOo's equivalent sat at 1.32. ZywOo still took his fourth HLTV Player of the Year award in January 2026, breaking s1mple's record of three, because eight MVP medals and a Vitality team that dominated the entire season outweighed a better stat. That same tension is running through the 2026 race right now, with a third player in the mix.
How HLTV Picks the Top 20
HLTV's editorial team, led by Milan "Striker" Švejda and Harry "NER0" Richards, does not run a stat formula and pick whoever tops it. The ranking weights four things, and raw rating is only the starting point:
- HLTV Rating across the full year (the base layer, never the whole picture)
- Team achievements at tier-one events (a Major win outweighs three B-tier event wins)
- Consistency through the season (peaking at one tournament doesn't survive eighteen months of scrutiny)
- Performance in decisive moments (semifinal and grand final maps carry more weight than group stage maps)
Tournament hierarchy matters within that last point. A Major MVP counts more than an MVP at any other event category, which becomes important when reading where m0NESY now sits heading into the second half of 2026. A player posting elite individual numbers on a team that never reaches finals can miss the Top 20 entirely.
The Full HLTV Top 20 of 2025
Positions 7 to 13 are as published by HLTV and corroborated by talkesport.com and egamersworld.com.
Three team stories jump out from that table:
- Vitality placed four players: ZywOo (#1), ropz (#3), flameZ (#5), mezii (#12). No team in recent Top 20 history has matched that depth across one season.
- FURIA placed three: molodoy (#6), KSCERATO (#9), YEKINDAR (#15). The international roster rebuild paid off faster than the CS2 community expected.
- MOUZ placed three: Spinx (#10), xertioN (#16), torzsi (#17). A team that lost key pieces mid-year still got three players into the top twenty.
ZywOo: What a Fourth Award Actually Requires
No player in Counter-Strike history had won the HLTV Player of the Year award four times before ZywOo did it in January 2026. His eight MVP medals in 2025 tied s1mple's single-season record, and HLTV's own write-up noted he placed above donk at most events where both competed, which is what shifted the outcome despite donk's higher overall rating.
His 2026 Form
ZywOo's 2026 results through IEM Cologne:
- IEM Krakow 2026: 1.59 rating, cited by HLTV as the best Big Event rating of his career
- PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026: MVP, tournament win with Vitality
- IEM Rio 2026: MVP, 1.56 average rating across seven playoff maps
- IEM Cologne Major 2026: 1.42 rating, Vitality lost to Falcons in the quarterfinals
By mid-2026, multiple CS2 coverage outlets tracked his year-long average around 1.39, with five team trophies and three MVP medals. Vitality's Cologne quarterfinal opponent was Falcons, who went on to win the Major, so ZywOo's exit came against the team that proved itself the best in the tournament.
donk: The Better Stat, the Runner-Up Spot
Why 2025 Went to ZywOo Anyway
Four MVPs including IEM Cologne 2025, the highest Big Event rating in the field, and one of the most widely circulated individual moments of the year, a 1v5 clutch against Vitality, make the case for donk at #1 genuinely strong. The honest version of that argument is that over a narrower set of the most competitive events, the gap between him and ZywOo narrows significantly. That's a position the HLTV editorial panel heard and chose not to adopt, weighting the full-season picture and ZywOo's placement above donk at most shared events more heavily than the raw annual rating.
His 2026 Problem
donk's individual numbers in 2026 are still among the best in the world. HLTV's Rating 3.0 database shows him at the top end of the global rankings through mid-2026. Spirit's results are the issue.
At IEM Cologne Major 2026, donk admitted afterward that he "choked" in the semi-final against Falcons, per CS2 reporting from multiple outlets covering the event. Spirit exited without a trophy. donk picked up an EVP despite the result, meaning his individual numbers held up even in the tournament his team couldn't finish.
m0NESY and the Cologne Major
m0NESY finished fourth in the 2025 Top 20 while at G2 Esports. The placement reflected a real disconnect between his individual output and a team that wasn't converting it into trophies under kyxsan. He moved to Falcons in the off-season.
Where the 2026 Race Stands
At IEM Cologne Major 2026, m0NESY won the MVP with a 1.25 rating, leading Falcons past four teams ranked inside the world's top five before sweeping FURIA in the final, according to skin.club's July 2026 reporting. He posted a 1.48 at IEM Rio and 1.33 at PGL Cluj-Napoca earlier in the year.
The 2026 year-end race involves three players with different types of evidence:
Many analysts treat the Major MVP as the most prestigious single credential in a CS2 season. m0NESY holds the most important one of 2026, which puts him in a position he never reached during his 2025 Top 20 run at G2.
Notable Placements Worth Knowing
molodoy at #6: Fastest Debut in Recent Memory
molodoy joined FURIA in April 2025 and finished the year sixth in the HLTV Top 20. Eight months at tier-one, four event wins, two MVPs, all before turning nineteen. HLTV's feature on his ranking called it a "meteoric rise," which is phrasing the list reserves for rare cases.
XANTARES at #14: His Own Record, Twice
XANTARES became the first player over 30 to make the HLTV Top 20, then backed it up with a second appearance the following year, becoming the only player to earn that distinction past 30 twice. Aurora's rise to trophy contention in 2025 was built around his performances.
NiKo at #18: The Superteam's Quiet Verdict
Eighteenth is NiKo's lowest placement in years and the clearest single-number summary of what 2025 was for Falcons. Coverage across CS2 media consistently framed the issue as structural rather than individual, and karrigan taking over as IGL before IEM Cologne 2026 suggests Falcons' management read it the same way.
FAQ
Who won the 2025 HLTV Player of the Year? ZywOo won his fourth HLTV Player of the Year award, breaking the record he had previously shared with s1mple at three. He won despite donk posting a higher Big Event rating because HLTV weights MVPs, team trophies, and the overall season picture alongside raw stats, and ZywOo placed above donk at most events where both competed.
Who is the best CS2 player right now in mid-2026? The race is between ZywOo, donk, and m0NESY. ZywOo leads on consistency and trophies. donk leads on raw rating per HLTV's database. m0NESY holds the IEM Cologne Major 2026 MVP. In our view, ZywOo's consistency argument is stronger, but the Major MVP makes m0NESY's case harder to dismiss than donk's runner-up position was in 2025.
Why did donk finish second despite a higher rating than ZywOo? HLTV's panel weighted ZywOo's eight MVPs and Vitality's dominant season more heavily than donk's per-match numbers. ZywOo also placed above donk at most events where both competed, per HLTV's own analysis, which shifted the outcome even with donk's higher overall rating.
What team was m0NESY on during the 2025 HLTV rankings? m0NESY was at G2 Esports for most of 2025, which is how he appears in the official HLTV Top 20. He moved to Falcons during the 2025-2026 off-season.
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