donk crowned IEM Cologne 2025 MVP as Team Spirit take the title

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, the 18-year-old prodigy from Team Spirit, couldn't hold back tears after his team secured the IEM Cologne 2025 crown. Reflecting on their journey, he described the moment as “special” and emphasized the “very strong relief” he felt following their dominant victory over MOUZ in the Grand Final.

Team Spirit defeated MOUZ with a clean 3‑0 scoreline in the best-of-five Grand Final, claiming the prestigious IEM Cologne trophy.The victory completes Spirit’s IEM trifecta: they now hold titles from IEM Katowice 2024, a CS2 Major, and IEM Cologne 2025, all achieved within just over a year. Spirit handled Mirage and Nuke comfortably, and answered MOUZ’s map pick Ancient with a strong CT-side comeback. MOUZ struggled on T sides, securing only two gun-round wins throughout the series; their recent T-side success rate vs top‑20 teams sits under 42%. It’s Spirit’s first major success with Ivan “zweih” Gogin in the lineup. Despite his young age, he already made notable contributions in his debut event with the team.

Donk captured his ninth HLTV x 1XBET MVP award, tying the career MVP total of Nikola “NiKo” Kovač as a pure rifler (only Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund has more). His tournament performance included a 1.50 rating, the highest MVP rating at Cologne since s1mple’s mark in 2021. Donk maintained a 1.47 rating in the playoffs, driving Spirit past Natus Vincere in the semis and sweeping MOUZ in the final.