Oldest Counter-Strike Major winners

IEM Cologne 2026 had a number of storylines but in the end it was Falcons who tied their names to Counter-Strike's biggest honor. At 36 years of age, karrigan binned the widely popular myth that treats esports as a "young man's game", securing his second Major title at IEM Cologne 2026. Here we take a look at some of the oldest Counter-Strike Major winners.

6. AdreN (27 years)

Kicking off the list is AdreN who won his first and only Major at 27 years of age. The 36 year-old Kazakh is still active in the competitive Counter-Strike space as he gears up for a local LAN in Almaty, Kazakhstan with NOVAQ. AdreN's professional Counter-Strike journey began with Counter-Strike 1.6 all the way back in 2005. He stayed with K23 for nearly four years. His Global Offensive days began with teams like Virtus.pro and HellRaisers but it was his transfer to Gambit that changed everything.

AdreN began hunting for a Major trophy alongside Zeus and the opportunity presented itself when Gambit entered the PGL Krakow 2017 Major with Legends status. Gambit won the Major without dropping a single match as 27 year-old AdreN lifted his first and only major trophy alongside Zeus.

5. Zeus and Dosia (29 years)

Zeus and Dosia came into Global Offensive with decorated Counter-Strike 1.6 careers. The veterans made it to the playoffs several times but just could not crack the final few games to get their hands on a Major trophy. After spending six years with NAVI, Zeus joined Gambit towards the end of 2016, where Dosia was already on the grind.

The duo suffered yet another playoffs exit at ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017 before going on to post a flawless run at PGL Krakow 2017 and win their first Major at 29 years of age. After winning Krakow 2017, Dosia stuck with Gambit for a couple of years while Zeus went back to NAVI immediately where he made a few more Major playoffs appearances before going inactive.

4. NiKo (29 years)

At #4 we have NiKo, probably the most mechanically gifted player in this list. NiKo quickly turned heads during Global Offensive's formative days with his sharp aim. He went on to join Mouz in 2015 and was absolutely cracked on an individual level. NiKo was widely hailed as one of Counter-Strike's sharpest aimers at the time and is still in contention for one of the greatest riflers of all time. Despite bagging several S-tier trophies, NiKo always crumbled under pressure when it came to the biggest stage- the Major.

NiKo made several playoffs appearances but failed to deliver towards the latter end of the Majors. Alongside karrigan, NiKo made his first Major grand-final with FaZe at ELEAGUE Boston 2018 but fell to prime Astralis. After a few more playoff exits, NiKo had a shot at bagging a Major at PGL Stockholm 2021 with G2. NiKo's team was up against s1mple's NAVI in the grand-final and fell short again. NiKo missed a sitter on s1mple with a deagle in the grand-final, which further questioned his big-game form.

His trophy draught finally came to an end last week with Falcons. NiKo secured a Major win in his 17th attempt at 29 years of age. NiKo's stellar playoffs form and the opponents he had to go through (Vitality, Spirit, FURIA) made the win all the more poetic and deserved.

3. dupreeh (30 years)

dupreeh has the most Counter-Strike Major trophies at five and his last one is what gets him a spot on this list. Starting his Counter-Strike Global Offensive journey with Dignitas, TSM and Copenhagen Wolves, dupreeh found very little success in the beginning. He transferred over to Astralis in 2016 and was soon joined by gla1ve. At the time, little did he know that his team would change Counter-Strike forever.

Starting with ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017, Astralis went on a domination run that teams could only dream of. With their utility usage and teamwork, Astralis reset the meta of Counter-Strike and even today's Vitality could not mirror Astralis's hattrick Major run. After winning four Majors with Astralis, dupreeh jumped ship with magisk, heading over to Vitality. Vitality closed the Global Offensive chapter with a win at BLAST.tv Paris 2023 Major where 30-year old dupreeh lifted his fifth Major trophy.

2. apEX (32 years)

The penultimate entry in this list is apEX. The French in-game leader nearly paralleled Astralis's peak but fell short the very last step, failing to complete the hattrick Major run. apEX won his first Major at 22 with Envy at DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2016 and then came back with another one seven years later at BLAST.tv Paris 2023. Vitality took their time getting started after the game transitioned into Counter-Strike 2 but once ropz joined the ranks, Vitality strung up unbelievable win streaks.

apEX led Vitality to massive success during 2024 and 2025, toppling several longstanding records along the way.

apEX was 31 during Vitality's Paris Major win but the Frenchman won two more at the age of 32 last year. He led Vitality to consecutive Major wins at BLAST.tv Austin 2025 and StarLadder Budapest 2025 but fell short at IEM Cologne 2026. With four Majors under his belt, apEX is the only active player who realistically has a shot at striking down dupreeh's five-Major record.

1. karrigan (36 years)

Topping the list is Danish in-game leader karrigan who recently led Falcons to their first ever Major win at IEM Cologne 2026. The win not only bagged Falcons their first Major trophy and secured NiKo's elusive Major win, but also made karrigan the oldest Counter-Strike player ever to win a Major. karrigan's Counter-Strike journey began all way back in 2005 but really started taking form during his 2011 run with Mouz.

karrigan led the initial Astralis iteration but failed to secure big wins. He then built a decorated career with Mouz and FaZe as the latter netted him his first Major win at PGL Antwerp 2022. karrigan led FaZe to a grand-final win at PGL Antwerp 2022 against defending champions, NAVI, fetching karrigan his first Major at the age of 32.

A couple of months back, karrigan was out of Major contention as FaZe failed to secure an IEM Cologne 2026 invite. In a shocking move, Falcons picked up karrigan and the Dane led Falcons into the playoffs. In the playoffs, the karrigan-led Falcons roster took down in-from Vitality, Spirit and FURIA to pick up their first ever Major win. This win makes karrigan the oldest player to win a Counter-Strike Major at 36 years of age.