The Counter-Strike franchise just celebrated its 20th birthday. The initial modification for Half-Life has grown into one of the most established esports over the past two decades.
The game is still very popular, and as it gets older, more youngsters will start to play. Here’s our list of 12 top Counter-Strike players who are younger than the game itself.
Smooya
Owen “smooya” Butterfield is the most famous British CS:GO pro. He’s known for his strong personality and his ability with the sniper rifle. The AWPer played with BIG from April 2018 to February. He helped BIG come in second place at ESL One Cologne in July 2018. Smooya was born on Aug. 16, 1999.
Twistzz
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken is one of the most popular names on this list. The rifler, born on Nov. 14, 1999, plays for Team Liquid, the best team in the world at the moment. They’ve won two big events recently: IEM Sydney in May and DreamHack Masters Dallas in June. Twistzz is considered one of the best players in the world, sitting in 12th place on HLTV’s best players list in 2018.
CeRq
Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov left Bulgary to play for NRG in the U.S. in December 2017. The aggressive AWPer was born on Dec. 7, 1999. He’s won a few smaller tournaments alongside his North American teammates, like cs_summit three in November 2018.
Yuurih
Yuri “yuurih” Santos isn’t the youngest person on FURIA, but he’s one of the best players on the team. The Brazilian was born on Dec. 22, 1999, and reached the international level this year. After solid performances at DreamHack Masters Dallas and ECS season seven finals in June, FURIA became the fifth-best team in the world, according to HLTV’s rankings.
Ropz
Robin “ropz” Kool was mousesports’ bet in 2017 and the organization nailed it. Ropz developed into one of the best riflers in the game while he was still studying and traveling with the team. The Estonian pro was born on the same day as yuurih: Dec, 22, 1999.
ZywOo
Although Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is only 18 years old, he’s already the best French CS:GO player. ZywOo began his professional career last year with Vitality and was criticized by part of the community for choosing to finish school before fully engaging in Counter-Strike. ZywOo was the MVP of Vitality’s first big title at ECS season seven finals. He was born on Nov. 9, 2000.
KSCERATO
Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato is the youngest and most talented player on FURIA. He was born on Sept. 12, 2001, and he played Counter-Strike 1.6, the previous version of the game. KSCERATO had an offer from MIBR last year, but since the deal didn’t go through, he’s helping FURIA become the best Brazilian team in CS:GO.
Sergej
Jere “sergej” Salo is the top prospect in Finland and part of the ENCE lineup. He already has some big titles under his belt, although he’s only 17 years old. In 2019, sergej and ENCE reached the grand finals of the IEM Katowice Major in February and defeated Astralis in BLAST Pro Series Madrid in May. He was born on March 1, 2002.
Plopski
After reaching the grand finals of DreamHack Open Summer last week with Ancient, Nicolas “Plopski” Zamora signed with one of the biggest organizations in CS:GO, Ninjas in Pyjamas. The player, born on May 14, 2002, will have the task of replacing veteran Dennis Edman.
Brollan
Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin has been playing professionally since 2017 when he was just a 15-year-old. He was signed by Fnatic in October 2018 and is one of the most skilled players on the roster. Brollan was born on June 17, 2002.
Frozen
David “frozen” Čerňanský has started to become famous after signing with mousesports in March. But teams have kept an eye on him since 2016 when he qualified for FPL, a matchmaking league for professional players and streamers. He was born on July 18, 2002.
OBo
Owen “oBo” Schlatter is the youngest player on this list. The 15-year-old played his first big tournament two weeks ago at the ECS season seven finals with Complexity. He’s already impressed the community and analysts with his ability. OBo was born on June 26, 2003, and signed with Complexity earlier this month.
