Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut has been named HLTV’s Player of the Year for 2025, marking his fourth time receiving the prestigious honor. The announcement, made during the HLTV Awards ceremony in Belgrade, sees the Vitality star surpass consensus-GOAT of CS:GO Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s previous record of three #1 finishes, cementing ZywOo’s place as the most decorated player in HLTV rankings history.
The GOAT debate heats up again—s1mple vs. ZywOo
ZywOo now stands alone at the pinnacle of Counter-Strike. s1mple’s trio of titles (2018, 2021, 2022) have finally been eclipsed by the French sniper, as he makes his case for the title of Greatest player of All Time even stronger. Emerging as a superstar in 2019, ZywOo shocked the world, taking over from s1mple as the world number one. And after a back-and-forth battle with the Ukrainian star across Counter-Strike’s COVID-impacted year, he managed to go back-to-back as well.
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