HLTV Awards: Rookie, Team, and Women's awards finalists revealed

We show the final three left in contention to win Team, Women's Team, Rookie, and Women's Player of the Year.

The third and final element of the HLTV Awards by 1xBet, after the Community and Panel awards, are the awards decided 100% in-house.

We crown the team of the year overall, using a version of the HLTV World Ranking formula from top-level tournaments (the same selection as in the Top 20 Players ranking) to measure a core's performance. There is the same award in the Women's game, looking at results over the most notable tournaments.

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Top 10 teams of 2023

The next two derive from the top 20 players of the year list. Player of the Year is just number one on that list, with the top three being finalists.

Rookie of the Year finalists are the three highest-ranked eligible players on the ranking. For a reminder of what makes a player a rookie, here are the updated criteria (and remember, age does not matter). All conditions must be met in the previous year, so 2023 for this year's award.

- Fewer than 30 maps versus Top 20 opposition on LAN and fewer than 60 maps versus Top 20 opposition overall
- Fewer than five appearances at Big events, Cologne/Katowice Play-ins, or the top 24 of a Major
- Fewer than one appearances at Major playoffs
- Fewer than 20 weeks in the Top 20 of our ranking

Finally, WPOTY applies the same methodology as the men's top 20 players ranking to provide the top three women's players of the year.

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Top 20 players of 2024: Final list

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Team of the Year

G2

G2, as usual, had heaps of community pressure on them in 2024 as you would expect for a team with Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač together. But they delivered, with a fairytale win in Dallas using Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip as a stand-in, and by winning Fall and World Final alongside signing of the summer Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa.

Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere won the first Major in Copenhagen as underdogs, but just a few months later they were the dominant force in Counter-Strike. Starting at London's Spring Final and ending in Rio, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's troops went on a run of six grand finals in a row and added three more trophies to their Copenhagen crown.

Spirit

Spirit opened and closed the year with a bang. They (and the record-breaking Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets) steamrolled IEM Katowice from a world ranking of No. 14. As Shanghai's Major rolled around they had fallen towards the bottom of the top 5, but just as teams seemed to figure Spirit out they bounced back and took the trophy home after another record-breaking donk performance.

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Women's Team of the Year

FURIA fe

FURIA fe won two LANs in the last three months 2024, and although both were locally ran in Brazil the second, Rainhas do Clutch, featured a memorable win over Imperial Valkyries — breaking their streak of eight LAN events in a row. They also reached the final of Impact's S6 finals in Stockholm.

Imperial Valkyries

Imperial Valkyries may have showed up to 2024 in new colors and without Ksenia "⁠vilga⁠" Kluenkova, but continued their offline dominance of the Women's space. Wins in Dallas and Stockholm made it 8/8 Impact LAN tournament trophies in a row in a run stretching back to June 2022.

NAVI Javelins

NAVI Javelins seemed the likeliest team to break Imperial Valkyries's dominance, after making both finals of Impact in 2023, and the Polish-majority squad kicked off the new year in stunning fashion with online wins in five tournaments. That included three grand final victories over the Pigeons-Imperial Valkyries core.

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Rookie of the Year

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets

donk has had a record-breaking year. 1.70 at IEM Katowice equaled the Big Event rating record, and 1.49 at the Shanghai Major smashed the Major rating record. He ends his rookie year with 5 MVPs and a 1.33 Big Event rating — utterly baffling numbers we have all gotten used to already.

Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa

malbsMd has waited patiently for his chance in tier one, leaving Guetamala first for Brazil and then for M80 in the States, and earned it by dominating G2 in ESL Pro League Season 19. A few months later, NiKo and company came calling for his signature and he promptly added two EVPs in wins at Fall Final and World Final.

Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia

zont1x, alongside donk, formed a formidable one-two punch of rookies behind Spirit's haul of three big trophies this term. The Ukrainian anchor took to tier one with aplomb, and his nonchalant attitude and preference for bodyshots became part of a signature brand just one year into what promises to be a long career.

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Women's Player of the Year

Ana "⁠ANa⁠" Dumbravă

ANa, winner of this award in 2022 and 2023, was as formidable as ever in 2024 with great consistency over all three of Imperial Valkyries's LAN appearances. She ended all 12 women-only tournaments above a 1.09 rating, and all three LANs at or above a 1.25.

Victoria "⁠tory⁠" Kazieva

tory was a finalist last year too, finishing in third, but has an extra string in her bow this time around after being the best player at Stockholm's Impact Season 6 finals. Her individual performances are even more impressive considering she took over in-game leadership in January.

Zainab "⁠zAAz⁠" Turkie

zAAz joined Imperial Valkyries in the new year but barely missed a beat, hitting a 1.23 rating for the year at the age of 33. A key member of the Secret fe core's dynasty in women's Counter-Strike, zAAz returns close to a decade later as a top three player in a new superteam.

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Player of the Year

The finalists for this award, the top three of our top 20 players ranking, will be revealed on January 11 at the Awards themselves.

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Top 20 players of 2024: Final list