Most popular CS2 esports events in 2025: Competitive Counter-Strike explained

Building upon the legacy of its predecessor, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) has made waves in the esports world since its launch in 2023. With IEM, PGL, and ESL leading the charge, this tactical shooter has a packed monthly line-up of Tier-1 CS2 esports events. 

With plenty of exciting CS2 tournaments, the competitive scene is thriving in 2025. It rivals esports titans like League of Legends, Valorant, and Dota 2 in terms of viewership, prize pools, and sheer talent on display, with incredible teams and pro players. 

Let’s take a look at the most popular Counter-Strike events and tournaments this year. 

For 2025, Valve, the creator of Counter-Strike, has streamlined the CS2 ecosystem, ensuring that “professional Counter-Strike remains an open sport, where teams are only limited by their ability.” Valve’s intervention has brought back many familiar tournament organisers, creating an action-packed schedule of nearly 30 Tier-1 events—almost one every two weeks. 

Here are 10 of the most highly anticipated tournaments in the 2025 CS2 events calendar.  

Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) events are among some of the biggest CS2 events of the year, under the aegis of ESL and long-time sponsor Intel. There are typically five of these each year, as part of the broader ESL Pro Tour. This year, we have: IEM Katowice, IEM Melbourne, IEM Dallas, IEM Cologne, and IEM Chengdu. 

We also have the CS2 Major Championships, better known as CS2 Majors, to look forward to. Majors have been a cornerstone of the Counter-Strike scene since their inception in 2013, making them some of the year’s most anticipated events. 

The former marks the first Valve Major held on U.S. soil for over seven years, featuring 30 participating teams, while the latter, with 32 teams, will bring the year to a close. 

One of the year’s major talking points is the September Skyesports Championship. With Asia’s booming esports marketing, this CS2 tournament is positioned as the region’s crown jewel, bringing competitive Counter-Strike to a broader, global audience. 

Following the transition from Global Offensive, Counter-Strike has gone from strength to strength. In 2025, most CS2 esports events are pulling in hundreds of thousands of peak viewers, with IEM Dallas 2025 reaching 800K just two days into the event, according to Esports Charts. 

Despite stiff competition from other esports, CS2 remained the most-watched esport on Twitch in Q1 2025, collecting an impressive 99.16 million hours watched. This success is thanks to an almost non-stop tournament calendar, with multiple top-tier events every month. 

Among the main events were ESL Pro League Season 21 and IEM Katowice – one of the best-known standalone esports tournaments in the world, single-handedly putting the Polish city of Katowice on the world esports map. The IEM Katowice Grand Final, held on February 9, surpassed the 2024 viewership with 1.3 million unique viewers. 

The official PGL Bucharest viewership statistics were also impressive. This marked the organiser’s second international CS2 event of the year after PGL Cluj-Napoca. With data drawn from Esports Charts, each match broadcast averaged 198K viewers, with peak viewership just over 510K concurrent watchers. 

While the second CS2 Esports World Cup (EWC) is still a few months away, we can look to last year’s numbers for context. The inaugural event recorded 756K peak viewers, hitting multiple key metrics as a viewership success for esports. There’s little doubt that the CS2 EWC will reach even greater heights this year, with more teams set to compete. 

Esports betting sites go hand-in-hand with streaming platforms like Twitch to further boost those viewership numbers. Thanks to online sportsbooks, fans can back their favourite teams or place their faith in an underdog, adding a layer of excitement to each CS2 match. There’s a huge selection of dedicated esports betting platforms available, including BetWhale, BetOnline, BetUS, MyBookie, and BetNow, where players can find CS2 live odds, betting markets, bonuses, and other features tailored specifically for tournament wagering. 

It’s no secret that CS2 is one of the highest-paying esports in the world, and 2025 proves it tenfold. Many CS2 events on this year’s schedule – like IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and IEM Dallas – each bring $1 million prize pools. 

Adding even more incentive, these IEM events are stops on the road to the Intel Grand Slam, a prestigious reward that grants $1 million in bonus prize money to any team that wins four ESL-organised events within a ten-event window. The latest team to secure the ESL Grand Slam title was Team Vitality at IEM Melbourne earlier this year, with legendary players ZyWoO and apEX leading the charge. The Grand Slam race resets at IEM Dallas. 

This summer, the Esports World Cup in Riyadh has completely redefined what it means to go big in esports. The total prize pool across all 25 esports titles is $70 million, with $1.25 million earmarked for the CS2 Esports World Cup event alone, according to Liquipedia. This puts it on par with both PGL Bucharest and the BLAST. Tv Austin Major in terms of payouts. 

In addition to this impressive prize fund, the EWC has introduced a unique Club Championship system, where organisations can earn performance-based rewards across multiple games, incentivising dominance beyond just CS2. For top-tier organisations fielding teams across multiple disciplines like Dota 2, CS2, and League of Legends, this means there’s even more money up for grabs. 

Even second-tier tournaments like Skyesports Championship in Asia and the Thunderpick World Championship are pushing impressive prize pots, with half a million and close to $850K, respectively. With prize pools like these, it’s clear that CS2 isn’t just thriving competitively – it’s setting the gold standard for financial rewards in esports.

The CS2 scene is dominated by big names in the esports space, as well as some lesser-known squads, with literally hundreds of different esports organisations. As seen on Liquipedia, these CS2 teams are dotted across the globe, but are mostly concentrated in Europe. Many of these teams have become synonymous with the game itself, like FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, G2 Esports, and MOUZ, to name a few. 

To find the best CS2 teams, you can take a look at the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) rankings, which paint a picture of how the world’s top teams are positioned. The VRS is the primary factor that decides which teams attend CS2 Majors each year, with four sets of CS2 ranks: one global standings and three regional standings – Europe, the Americas, and APAC. 

According to the official VRS rankings in May 2025, here are the top ten CS2 teams and their current points: 

But let’s take a closer look at some of the teams that make up the CS2 pro scene we all love so much: 

Current roster

Team Vitality, from Europe, is one to watch. It is headed by long-time captain apEX. Alongside ZywOo, these two players have been at the heart of the roster ever since the team was established in 2018, achieving remarkable success. 

As you can see from the VRS rankings, Vitality stands best of the rest as of May 2025, having lifted not one, but two IEM trophies already this year, while claiming the Intel Grand Slam award. They’ve secured $6.2 million in prize money throughout their tenure and have won 17 S-tier trophies, including a CS2 Major. 

Current roster

Currently ranked fourth globally, Team Spirit has been a mainstay of competitive Counter-Strike for almost a decade. However, 2024 was the real turning point for the Russian squad at IEM Katowice 2024, where they bested the legendary FaZe Clan with a dominant 3-0 at the Spodek Arena. 

From there, Team Spirit claimed their first-ever Major win at Perfect World Shanghai, triumphing over Counter-Strike legends like Team Liquid and MOUZ. They have since been crowned the PGL Astana champions in 2025.

Current roster

MOUZ, formerly known as mousesports, are anything but timid. They’ve been a staple of the pro-CS scene since 2002 and have recently been stringing together multiple top-10 performances across multiple competitions. 

The team features renowned names in the CS2 pool like Torzi and Jimpphat. Their strengthened roster helped them claim the PGL Cluj-Napoca victory in February 2025. Riding on the back of this victory, will 2025 be the year of the MOUZ? 

Current roster

Soaring to new heights is CS2 newcomer, Team Falcons, who joined the competitive Counter-Strike ecosystem in late 2020. Their current CS2 roster fields players of vast experience, such as Magisk, NiKo, and m0NESY – the latter two being a deadly duo acquired from G2 Esports. 

Despite being a relatively new CS2 team, the Falcons have secured impressive results in the past year. They finished as runners-up at IEM Melbourne and BLAST Rivals Spring 2025. They notched their first international victory at PGL Bucharest 2025. These recent achievements have propelled them to third place in Valve’s official rankings. 

Current roster

While Counter-Strike 2 is dominated by European-based teams, Team Liquid proves that North America can still compete with the best. They’ve been involved in the CS scene for just over a decade and has earned a lifetime total winnings of $6.2 million, cementing their status as one of the most successful esports organisations in the world.

Although Team Liquid isn’t currently in the top 10 of the VRS standings, that doesn’t take anything away from their legacy. Their current roster stars iconic players like Twistzz and NAF, who are keen to convert their talent into wins. Past stars like nitr0, EliGE, and Stewie2K have all also represented the ‘bannered horse’, some of whom were part of Team Liquid’s “Golden Era” in 2019. 

Current roster

Astralis evolved from being labelled “chokers”, crumbling under pressure in CS matches, to becoming one of the most dominant teams in the esport. Their game-changing decision to hire a sports psychologist helped them overcome mental blocks and rise to become champions. 

Their peak 2018-2019 roster—featuring device, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve, and Magisk—won four Majors (including three consecutively), an unmatched feat in CS:GO history. Astralis further cemented its legacy by becoming the first team to ever claim the Intel Grand Slam in 2018, completing the $1 million challenge. 

As the CS2 competitive scene evolves, these teams drive the game forward with incredible skill and fierce rivalries. 

Behind every legendary CS2 team is a roster of clutch masters, headshot pros, and round-saving IGLs. The CS2 pros on the scene in 2025 are some of the finest esports talent out there. While there are hundreds, if not thousands, of active CS2 pro players, here are our top five. 

At the top of the CS2 food chain is Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, the cornerstone of Team Vitality. Widely regarded as one of the best CS2 players in the world, ZywOo has effortlessly continued his dominant streak from the CS:GO era into CS2 without breaking a sweat. According to HLTV, the 24-year-old AWper has played over 37,000 rounds and holds the record for the most MVP awards in CS2. 

Another player who can’t be overlooked is Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, the young Russian prodigy for Team Spirit. At 17-years-old, he first made headlines carrying IEM Katowice 2024, winning the “Rookie of the Year” and “Player of the Year” HLTV award. Still at the start of his career, donk is already on track for Hall of Fame material, making him one of the main CS2 players to watch in 2025. 

Another standout player for Team Spirit is Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov, who joined the squad in 2023. Rated sixth in HLTV’s annual player rankings, sh1ro’s raw performance and stats speak volumes. As an AWPer. He’s known for clutch players and is a key reason for Team Spirit’s ongoing success. 

Moving onto Team Falcons’ all-star line-up, we have Ilyah “m0NESY” Osipov and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, the deadly duo who previously played for G2 Esports together. NiKo is one of the greatest riflers of all time, holding records for the highest number of total kills and opening kills in Counter-Strike history. Paired with m0NESY’s AWPing prowess, and they’re major reasons Team Falcons currently sits third in the VRS, buoyed by steady results at several Tier-1 CS2 events this year. 

Reading about CS2 pros is enough to make anyone want to test their mettle and join a CS2 esports team. If you want to play like a professional, you can always find guides on CS2 pro settings on Esports Insider, including their gear and even crosshairs. 

Fan-favourite CS2 events such as Intel Extreme Masters, PGL tournaments, and CS2 Majors dominate global esports stages. Meanwhile, newer tournaments like the Esports World Cup, Thunderpick World Championship, and Skyesports Championship add fresh air to the already-thriving competitive scene, expanding into new regions and reaching broader audiences. 

With prize pools in the millions (or close to it) and fan engagement at an all-time high, CS2 has more than proven it’s not just a successor to CS:GO – it’s the future of tactical FPS esports. If you’re not watching already, now’s the perfect time to tune in.