HLTV Top 20: #20 to be revealed tomorrow

Counter-Strike's second Major of 2025 has come to a close at Budapest with Vitality successfully defending their crown and wrapping up 2025's highest tier of competition . HLTV now takes centerstage, unveiling the year's top twenty featuring some of the best performing players of the year. Starting tomorrow at #20, HLTV will reveal each entry day by day until 9th January 2026, stopping at #4.

The top three entries in the list will be announced at the HLTV Awards show in Belgrade, Serbia on 10th January 2026. HLTV's Editor in Chief Milan "Striker" Švejda and Senior Writer Harry "NER0" Richards will determine the entries in the list. While statistics at notable events stand at the core of these rankings, context (Performance under pressure, deep tournament runs, performance against top ranked teams, etc) will play an important role in finalizing one's spot on the list.

HLTV sorts events by importance before assigning rankings as follows:

• Major: BLAST.tv Austin Major, StarLadder Budapest Major

• Super-elite: IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne

• Elite: IEM Chengdu, BLAST Open Lisbon

• Big: Esports World Cup, ESL Pro League S22, ESL Pro League S21, IEM Melbourne, IEM Dallas, BLAST Rivals S2, BLAST Rivals S1, BLAST Open London, BLAST Bounty S1, BLAST Bounty S2, FISSURE Playground 2, PGL Astana, PGL Cluj-Napoca, PGL Bucharest

• Medium: Thunderpick World Championship, FISSURE Playground 1, PGL Masters Bucharest, CS Asia Championships

• Non-award: Stage 1 and 2 of the Majors, Stage 1 of IEM Katowice, Stage 1 of IEM Cologne, Stage 1 of the ESL Pro Leagues

If you're up for it, lock in your predictions for HLTV's top twenty of 2025 and stand a chance to win big.