Top 20 players of 2023: Introduction

The Top 20 players of the year 2023 ranking has concluded.

Top 20 players of 2023 calendar

1. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
2. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač
3. Robin "ropz" Kool
4. Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov
5. Lotan "Spinx" Giladi
6. Álvaro "SunPayus" García
7. Oleksandr "⁠s1mple"⁠ Kostyliev
8. Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov
9. Martin "stavn" Lund
10. Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants
11. Nicolai "device" Reedtz
12. David "frozen" Čerňanský
13. Nemanja "huNter-⁠" Kovač
14. Guy "NertZ" Iluz
15. Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard
16. Benjamin "blameF" Bremer
17. Emil "Magisk" Reif
18. Casper ⁠"cadiaN"⁠ Møller
19. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato
20. Russel ⁠"Twistzz"⁠ Van Dulken

As is tradition at the end of every year, HLTV will be running its Top 20 Players of the Year countdown, a ranking of the 20 best players starting from No. 20 and descending daily until reaching the year's best performer.

The countdown started on January 1 in years past, but this time around, with the third edition of the HLTV Award Show set to take place on January 13 in Belgrade, Serbia, the ranking will start a few days earlier.

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Announcing HLTV Award Show 2023 presented by 1xBet

In order to reach the Award Show with the final three players left to reveal, one player will be unveiled every day at 20:00 starting on December 27 until January 12, the eve of the award show. Then, along with other individual and team accolades, the three best players of 2023 will be revealed and the player of the year will be awarded.

For those of you who like to guess the players in the ranking or just wonder about how it is made, here are a few crucial points to keep in mind:

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1. Statistics: The ranking is heavily based on the numbers, but looking at year-long ratings alone won't tell you everything. Context is important, such as at which events players stood out and whether they performed when the stakes were highest in big playoff matches.

Note: Placings mentioned in each top 20 player's notable stats are from all 108 players who played at least 50 maps in the events considered.

2. Awards: If you followed the ranking in previous years, you'll know MVPs and EVPs can make a difference. Not all accolades are born equal, however, as a big EVP (from a Major, for example) could mean more than MVP medals from smaller events.

2023 events considered and categories:
— Super-elite (IEM Katowice, BLAST.tv Paris Major, IEM Cologne)
— Elite (IEM Sydney, Gamers8, BLAST Premier World Final)
— Big (ESL Pro Leagues, BLAST Premier Spring and Fall Finals, IEM Dallas and Rio)
— Medium (CS Asia Championships, Elisa Masters Espoo, ESL Challengers Atlanta and Jönköping, BetBoom Dacha, Thunderpick World Championship)
— Non-award (BLAST Premier Groups, IEM Katowice/Cologne Play-ins, BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage and RMRs)

3. Sample size: This is a ranking of the best of the best. To make it into the top 20, players have to show their worth against the best teams on a regular basis. If they haven't played at the top for long enough, the sample size is too small to judge.

4. Consistency: One of the factors in judging the players' year is their consistency, both from match to match and tournament to tournament. Although high enough peaks can make up for a lack of stability, occasional disappearances — especially in key moments and at the biggest tournaments — are likely to bring them down a notch.

5. Recency bias: While it is natural for fans to remember more from recent times, we look at an entire year's worth of performances when determining the ranking.

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The lists from the previous years, dating back to Counter-Strike 1.6 in 2010 (except the transitional year between 1.6 and CS:GO in 2012) can be found below:

Top 20 players of 2022 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2021 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2020 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2019 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2018 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2017 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2016 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2015 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2014 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2013 (CS:GO)
Top 20 players of 2011 (CS 1.6)
Top 20 players of 2010 (CS 1.6)

Find out everything about the HLTV Top 20 by going to our dedicated top 20 page here.