HOTU Upset FURIA in ESL Pro League S22 Opener

HOTU Upset FURIA in ESL Pro League S22 Opener

In a shocking result, HOTU defeated FURIA 2–0 in their opening Swiss‑system match of ESL Pro League Season 22 (Stage 1) in Stockholm, spoiling the Brazilians’ tournament debut after their recent championship. 

Match Recap & Statistics

Overpass: HOTU claimed the map 13–8, establishing control early with aggressive T‑side rounds.

Dust2 (FURIA’s pick): HOTU again prevailed, 13–9, sealing the series in two maps.

Throughout the series, HOTU demonstrated strong clutch wins and maintained composure even when FURIA attempted a comeback near the end.

On Overpass, HOTU racked up eight rounds on T side, secured three clutches, and mounted a swift finish after regaining weapon control in the second half.

FURIA’s struggle continued on Dust2, where HOTU’s defense and mid‑round adjustments kept FURIA from fully mounting a comeback.

The scoreboard reveals that Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato was the standout player for FURIA, ending the series with a rating of 1.53.

For HOTU, Danil “molodoy” Golubenko posted a 1.01 rating, making him the team’s second-best in the series.

According to HLTV’s match stats, HOTU’s mizu had 34 kills/29 deaths with an ADR of 92.0 on the series.

Also notable: HOTU’s new signing n0rb3r7 made contributions (including AWP kills), and the overall team showed balanced performance across roles.

This upset also had implications for rankings: FURIA fell from second to third in the VRS Global Ranking as a result of this loss. Meanwhile, HOTU earned 55 VRS points for the upset. 

Coach & Player Reactions

HOTU’s coach, Rustem “mou” Telepov, was unphased when asked whether he was surprised by the victory:

“But we won a trophy as well,” he remarked, referencing HOTU’s recent European Pro League Series 2 title.
Regarding map selection, he added: “We saw how FURIA was playing, and they had only two officials on the map on HLTV. So it was easy to predict how they were playing, that’s all.” 

When prompted about beating the more established FURIA under pressure, mou offered a humorous personal anecdote:

“When I was in Gambit, we would always lose versus FalleN, and yesterday I said to my teammates, ‘You should win for me because I would always lose to FalleN.’ I’m happy.” 

FURIA did not publicly comment (in the sources I checked) beyond in‑match performance, but their top performer KSCERATO still put up significant numbers despite the loss.

Context & Implications

FURIA entered the event as freshly crowned FISSURE Playground 2 champions and were highly ranked going into Stage 1.

HOTU, though less heralded, came into this season riding momentum from their online European Pro League Series 2 title.

HOTU is ranked around #63 in the world rankings (per HLTV), with their core showing constant growth.

With this win, HOTU have already secured a positive start in the Swiss system, while FURIA must now regroup.

The result emphasizes how volatile best‑of‑3 series can be in the current CS2 meta, where momentum and map control are critical.