ZywOo Secures “Breakthrough Player of the Decade” at Esports Awards 2025 for Counter-Strike 2

ZywOo Secures “Breakthrough Player of the Decade” at Esports Awards 2025 for Counter-Strike 2

Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, the French superstar AWPer for Team Vitality, has been honored with the Esports Breakthrough Player of the Decade award at the Esports Awards 2025. The accolade was part of the special Decade Awards ceremony held during the event’s 10th anniversary in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which celebrated outstanding achievements across the entire 2015–2025 period, rather than a single year.

On August 24, 2025, the official Esports Awards account on X (formerly Twitter) confirmed the winner of the “Breakthrough Player of the Decade” as @zywoo. A South-East Asia esports outlet, Sportskeeda, also listed “ZywOo” as the winner among nominees like SIMP, M0NESY, Bugha, Shotzzy, and Miracle.

This win places ZywOo among the most impactful newcomers of the past decade in the Counter‑Strike scene.

A Look at ZywOo’s Legendary Decade (2015–2025)

ZywOo has long been regarded as one of the greatest Counter-Strike players ever:

• He earned the HLTV Player of the Year title in 2019, 2020, and 2023, and ranked highly in other years.

In 2025 alone, he had a historic run:

• Captured MVP awards at IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 21, BLAST Open Lisbon, IEM Melbourne, BLAST Rivals Season 1, IEM Dallas, and the BLAST.tv Austin Major — totalling 27 HLTV MVPs and surpassing s1mple's previous record.

• Also lifted multiple tournament trophies, including IEM Katowice 2025 (with Vitality winning the event), and BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, where ZywOo earned his second Major MVP award.

Team Vitality's dominance in 2025 was bolstered by the arrival of ropz in early 2025, joining after the departure of Spinx. The revamped roster went on to win numerous consecutive events.

Contextualizing the Award

The Decade Awards differed from previous Esports Awards: they recognized a decade of excellence, honoring the most influential players, teams, games, and organizations from 2015 to 2025. Among its categories:

Esports Breakthrough Player of the Decade: ZywOo (winner); other nominees included SIMP, M0NESY, Bugha, Shotzzy, Miracle, and more.

Other categories (for broader context): PC Player of the Decade went to Faker; Esports Personality of the Decade was awarded to Nadeshot; Streamer of the Decade was xQc.

Final Summary

Award: Esports Breakthrough Player of the Decade (Counter-Strike 2) at Esports Awards 2025

Recipient: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

Why: Extraordinary performance, consistency, and record-breaking MVP count in tournaments — especially in 2025

Event Context: Special decade-spanning recognition during the awards’ 10th anniversary