Top Counter-Strike 2 teams in 2025

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In 2025, Counter-Strike 2 underwent significant changes to its ecosystem, leaving fans and pundits wondering how these updates would impact its esports segment. They need not have worried, as the new regulations contributed immensely to the shooter enjoying some of its strongest viewership results.

We previously looked at the legendary game's top events of 2025 by watch time and peak concurrent viewership. This article, sponsored by Hellcase, continues in the same vein, as Esports Charts runs down the most popular Counter-Strike 2 teams of last year based on the same two metrics mentioned above.

Most-watched Counter-Strike 2 teams in 2025

The most-watched side in Valve's shooter across all competitions last year was, unsurprisingly, Team Vitality. The French esports organization enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons in the title's lengthy esports history, clinching an incredible nine titles across 2025.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and company participated in a total of 16 tournaments last year, playing 82 matches to hit an astonishing 90.3 million Hours Watched (HW). They began the year by signing Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, but the immediate aftermath was a quarterfinal exit at the BLAST Premier Bounty Season 1 2025. However, things picked up thereon, and how, with Team Vitality making the playoffs at every event it participated in.

Team Vitality also went on a crazy run of seven straight titles in prominent series like the ESL Pro League, Intel Extreme Masters and BLAST Premier. The European roster capped this achievement off with victory at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, before going back-to-back at the Majors with a win in Budapest. Naturally, such a historic season was capped off with a Team of the Year win at the prestigious recent HLTV Awards.

The second-best CS2 side by watch time in 2025 was Team Spirit, which accumulated 79.1 million HW across 15 events and 68 games. This reflected the Russian esports organization's season perfectly, as its performances meant it was the most consistent side not named Vitality.

Boris "magixx" Vorobyev and company did win a slew of trophies last year, but it was still inconsistent compared to what fans saw in previous years. Nevertheless, four S-Tier wins were a great output by ordinary means, and it was enough to help the side also finish as the runner-up to Vitality in the Team of the Year category at the HLTV Awards.

Third on this leaderboard was MOUZ, which enjoyed one of its best and most consistent seasons in years in 2025. Last year, the side participated in 16 Counter-Strike 2 competitions, playing 78 matches in total to rack up almost 70 million HW.

The German outfit was able to regularly go deep into tournaments and notched quite a few top-four finishes along the way. Its crowning achievement last year was a triumph at the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, although its most popular match came against Team Spirit during the Playoffs, Quarterfinals of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, which peaked at 1.4 million viewers.

Team Falcons and FaZe Clan completed the top five here, accruing 68.6 million HW and 66.6 million HW, respectively, in 2025. The former was in demand throughout 2025 thanks to its attempt at building a "superteam" consisting of high-profile players such as Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov. The Saudi esports organization could only clinch one trophy, the PGL Bucharest 2025; it did consistently reach the playoffs, showing that progress was gradual but clear.

FaZe Clan, meanwhile, refocused its energies on getting back to challenging for the top two and top four places after struggling with results recently. While immediate success was not forthcoming, the fact that the legendary American esports organization was able to regularly duke it out with the best shows that it is on the right track to being seen as a viable threat at events.

Most-watched Counter-Strike 2 teams in 2025

Most popular Counter-Strike 2 teams in 2025

For this leaderboard, we are looking at the teams with the highest average viewership across 2025, which shows just how consistently they were able to engage viewers when playing. The leader was Team Spirit with 421,296 Average Viewers (AV), representative of the fact that Russian-speaking viewers remain perhaps the most important demographic in CS2 esports.

The Russian side winning multiple trophies last year would no doubt have helped keep their fans interested. And although it could not win any of its five series against Team Vitality in 2025, there were more than enough moments in these matches to show that this team has what it takes to challenge the French roster's dominance in the new season.

Speaking of Vitality, it was the second most popular Counter-Strike 2 side by average live viewers in 2025. It had a solid 397,843 AV across these 12 months, accrued over a significant airtime of 227 hours. The champion team's most popular game, meanwhile, came against The Mongolz in the Grand Final of the Austin Major, which hit 1.79 million Peak Viewers (PV).

MOUZ, Natus Vincere and Team Falcons rounded off this table, each averaging over 300,000 viewers across 2025. The last of these names played the most matches and tournaments of the trio, pointing to the fact that engaging audiences across so many games and events is not the easiest thing in one of Counter-Strike's most competitive eras. Even if a side has superstars in its roster, winning titles is the biggest currency when it comes to drawing in high viewership.

NAVI, meanwhile, endured a fallow year, unable to continue the momentum it built in the second half of 2024, which began with winning the first Major of the CS2 era in Copenhagen and ended with four trophies. In 2025, team weaknesses seemed to creep in regularly, especially at the crucial moments on the biggest stages, meaning the Ukrainian heavyweight could only point to a solitary victory at the StarLadder StarSeries Season 19.

Nevertheless, the team still regained the trust and support of fans, as it attracted 319,163 AV last year. It also ended the year on a positive note, finishing among the top four at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 to carry forward positive momentum heading into the new season.

Most popular Counter-Strike 2 teams in 2025

CS2 in 2025 was a rollercoaster of emotions and performances, aided by attention-capturing storylines involving Team Vitality, Team Spirit and Team Falcons. We also have to mention The Mongolz, who enjoyed a stellar year, including becoming the first Asian side to finish in the top two of a Counter-Strike Major, and established themselves as a new force in the game's competitive scene. With the title's viewership also seeing an upturn, 2026 promises to be another exciting year for fans of this iconic shooter.