Cluj-Napoca win puts Team Vitality in $10M Counter-Strike earnings club

Loading

On February 22, Team Vitality secured its second championship title of the year at the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026. Victory at the event in Romania was also special because it made it one of the handful of teams to have crossed $10 million in all-time Counter-Strike prize money.

The French esports organization reached this milestone during a dominant 3-0 win over PARIVISION in the grand final of the first PGL tournament of 2026. Team Vitality's total Counter-Strike prize winnings touched $10,223,593 with this win, making it just the third organization in history to cross the $10 million mark.

Ukrainian heavyweight Natus Vincere leads the all-time table with $12,242,210 after more than 16 years in the scene. Following the legendary outfit in second place is the Danish esports organization Astralis, which has earned $10,705,759 since entering the iconic shooter's competitive segment a decade ago.

Team Vitality's era-defining run of trophies over the past two years has played a massive role in reaching this landmark. Since the start of 2025, the Counter-Strike side has won $2.75 million from first-place finishes alone, which includes back-to-back Major trophies.

A look at the entire calendar year for 2025 shows that Team Vitality led all CS2 organizations in combined ESL FACEIT Group and BLAST earnings. In fact, the European roster finished the year with around $3.93 million in total prize money.

Adding revenue from circuit bonuses like the ESL Grand Slam, the BLAST Frequent Flyers Program, and deep runs at other top events, the team has earned more than $4.57 million in just over a year. To put this run into perspective, if the organization were founded in January 2025, it would still take the 11th spot on the list of highest-earning Counter-Strike sides, above names like Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, and Cloud9.

Having entered the Counter-Strike esports scene in October 2018, Team Vitality has achieved this milestone in just seven and a half years. That is much quicker than the two teams above it, and at the current rate, the side could realistically surpass Astralis and move into second place on this elite table later this year.

In terms of major trophy achievements, Team Vitality has clinched more than 20 S-tier tournaments, including three Major titles: the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, and the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. The win in Hungary made it just the fourth team in Counter-Strike history to achieve consecutive Major victories.

Readers must note that earning high prize money is a major milestone, but it is not the biggest contributor to the daily running of an esports team. While part of the tournament earnings often go to the playing roster, the salaries for players and coaching staff, alongside funds for infrastructure, travel, and performance facilities, mostly come from sponsorship and partnership deals.

To that end, Team Vitality recently entered a strategic partnership with E.Leclerc, a French retail company that has become the team's main partner. In mid 2025, the French org also announced a major multi-year agreement with Stake, a global leader in the betting and gaming sector, and the name behind livestreaming platform Kick.

Highest-earning Counter-Strike teams

These are the deals that help keep the business running on a more day-to-day basis, while prize money forms a smaller part of overall revenue. Readers looking for more information on teams, including their players and the viewership for every match, can check out our Teams Dashboard.