From the outside, Team Vitality in 2025 looks like a team that wins everything they touch. Their bright yellow jerseys show up on more and more stages, in more games, in more regions of the world. Behind that image is a very busy year packed with trophies, roster changes, a major new partnership with Stake.com, and a constant travel schedule that barely allows any time at home.
From CS2 Powerhouse to Multi Game Brand
The heart of Vitality’s recent rise is still Counter Strike 2. In 2025 their CS2 roster turned into one of the most dominant line ups the game has seen since the old NiP era. With apEX leading, ZywOo as the superstar, and the huge addition of ropz at the start of the year, Vitality built a team that could win big finals again and again.
The year started with a breakthrough at IEM Katowice 2025. For years Katowice had been a “cursed” arena for Vitality, a place where things always went wrong. This time they swept Team Spirit 3-0 in the final, with ZywOo and ropz both putting up huge numbers and finally lifting the trophy that had escaped them before.
That win was not a one off. Over the spring they turned into a title machine setting the esports betting markets on fire. At IEM Dallas 2025 they crushed MOUZ 3-0 in the final, claiming their sixth straight tournament of the year and extending a historic streak of around 30 consecutive series wins on LAN. That run set them up as clear favorites for every big event on the calendar and pushed them toward a second ESL Grand Slam.
The crown jewel of the season came in June at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. Vitality arrived as world number one and “big favorites” for the event. They handled the pressure, beat The MongolZ 2-1 in the final in Austin’s Moody Center, and lifted their second Major title after Paris 2023. ZywOo was named MVP, and the win marked their seventh big Counter Strike trophy of the year.
Vitality also kept winning other titles. The biggest story outside CS2 in 2025 actually came from mobile esports. The club’s all Indonesian women’s roster in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang not only won the MLBB Women’s Invitational at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, they also did it without dropping a single game, sweeping Gaimin Gladiators 4-0 in the final and taking home $150,000.
The team established themselves as an organization that wants to win several titles at once, on different platforms, with rosters coming from France, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
A Year of Highs and Lows in CS2
Even for a super team, not every final goes their way. In November, Vitality reached the grand finale of IEM Chengdu 2025 but were beaten 3-0 by FURIA. The Brazilian side, led by young AWP player Molodoy, made history as the first mostly Brazilian team to win an IEM trophy since 2017, while Vitality had to settle for another silver medal on a big LAN.
Vitality are still very often the favorites, but they are not unbeatable. The new Valve Regional Standings (VRS) system and the crowded Tier 1 calendar mean that form swings quickly, and one bad week at the wrong time can change the rankings.
This is where an exclusive Team Vitality interview with Stake.com with head coach XTQZZZ gives a closer look and valuable information. In the interview, he explains that Tier 1 teams like Vitality actually play a heavy schedule under VRS, not a light one. He says Vitality will end the year having played around 16 events in about 30 weeks, attending every top tournament and spending more than half the year on the road.
He also describes how the system is still reachable for Tier 2 teams, but only if they can perform well at LANs, because the new ranking clearly rewards offline events. For Vitality, that means every big arena tournament matters and there is almost no room to take a “light” event off. It also means they are constantly exposed to upsets from hungry squads like FURIA, Falcons or Spirit who catch them off guard when they’re tired from all the action.
Stake.com Partnership as a Sign of Their Era
One of the biggest off stage moves for Vitality this year was the new multi year partnership with Stake.com. In July 2025, Vitality announced that Stake would become the official international betting partner for their CS2 roster in a seven figure deal. The partnership launched in style at IEM Cologne, one of Counter Strike’s flagship events, and placed Stake’s logo front and center on the new Vitality jerseys.
Both sides have been open about why this deal matters. For Vitality, co CEO Vas Roberts called it a “historic” partnership that reflects their ambition to stand alongside global sports and entertainment brands. For Stake, the connection adds an elite esports team to a sponsorship portfolio that already includes a Formula 1 team, UFC stars, football clubs and big names like Drake and Davido.
The partnership is not only about jersey branding. In the Stake interview with XTQZZZ, the betting site uses its blog to mix content and information. Vitality provides competitive credibility and a human story, while Stake provides a platform for fans who want to understand the game better and maybe place bets with more knowledge.
Stake also highlights that the deal arrived while Vitality were enjoying a huge run of S tier final appearances and back to back Major titles, calling them the number one CS2 team in the world. For a betting brand, aligning with a team at its competitive peak is both a marketing move and a vote of confidence that this roster still has more to win.
Inside The Game with Stake
Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam, Head Coach of Team Vitality talks in detail with Stake.com about topics that matter to fans and bettors. On the VRS system, he accepts that the ranking rewards LAN events and stresses that Tier 2 teams must perform consistently to climb. He does not see Tier 1 squads as “protected” by the system, but he admits that seeding can feel strange when the same teams meet early in groups several tournaments in a row. In his view, that is one of the few areas where the system could be improved.
On the map pool, he is surprisingly relaxed. He says changing one map after each Major or once a year is fine, but he dislikes when a removed map comes back without meaningful updates. He specifically mentions that he would like to see Cache return instead of Mirage, which he feels has become stale after many years without big reworks. For people watching Vitality and fans looking to place bets, this gives a hint about which maps might suit them if the pool changes again.
On the meta, he praises the current CT side economy as a positive change and talks about weapon balance. He suggests that some pistols like the P250 or CZ could use small buffs, while the AK 47 might deserve a light nerf to reduce its consistency without losing its identity as a high skill rifle. Again, this is valuable insight into how one of the top coaches sees the state of CS2.
He also spends time on the human side of esports. He describes the hardest part of his job as dealing with the travel load and trying to balance work with family life when the team is away for more than 30 weeks a year. The “easiest” part, in his words, is that a bad event can be quickly forgotten because there is always another tournament just around the corner. That mindset fits a team like Vitality, which had to bounce back from painful losses and still arrive as favorites for the next ones.
XTQZZZ also mentioned the importance of events in China and the USA. In his opinion China is an important stop not only because of the fierce audience, but to give Chinese teams more space to get onto the world scene. The USA is his favorite place to compete, because he won his first Major there and loves the energy of the American fans.
Valorant Rebuild and Other Divisions
In late November 2025 the organization unveiled a new roster built around some very big names and trusted relationships. They brought in Derke, considered one of the top duelists in Valorant history, along with Jamppi and PROFEK under coach PAL and strategic coach Scuttt, both coming off strong results at BBL Esports and Fnatic.
This new look team is built with 2026 in mind. Vitality emphasizes club culture, trust and long term planning. The up and coming superstar Sayonara is going to be 18 in March of 2026 and will officially join the VCT EMEA line up. Until then the experienced part of the team will cover the first few months of the season.
Vitality’s women’s MLBB roster is fresh from a world title at the Esports World Cup. On top of the perfect 4-0 final, reports from the event say they did not lose a single game during the entire tournament, making them one of the most dominant female teams in any esports this year.
When we look closely we can see a pattern showing. Vitality are trying to win now, but they also keep an eye on future stars. XTQZZZ touches on this in the Stake interview too, explaining that the ideal age to turn pro depends heavily on each country’s laws and education system. In France, he says, it is difficult to become a full time pro before 18, so organizations must help young players balance school and early competition. That philosophy ties in with how Vitality are handling talents like Sayonara.
Upcoming Tournaments
Even though we are nearing the end of the year, Vitality still has a busy 2025 to finish and a packed 2026 to prepare for. In CS2, one of the next big stops is BLAST Rivals Fall 2025 in Hong Kong. The tournament brings eight top teams to Chek Lap Kok for a $350,000 event with a group stage into playoffs. Vitality arrives as reigning champions from Season 1 and as the world’s number one team, so once again they are the squad everyone wants to beat. The field includes dangerous rivals like Falcons, Spirit, FURIA, The MongolZ and others, setting up possible rematches from earlier in the year.
The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 is running a long campaign in Hungary, with Vitality, Falcons and FURIA as the headline teams. The event stretches from late November to mid December with a $1.25M prize pool and a best of five final promised at the end. Vitality head into Budapest as one of the most followed brands of the tournament, but Chengdu showed that FURIA can beat them on a big stage, while Falcons have already pushed them to the limit in earlier BLAST events.
In Valorant the new team will make its first public appearance on December 3 at the 2025 Project Blender event. It is more of a show than a high pressure tournament, but it will give fans the first look at how Derke, Jamppi and the rest of the line up work together under PAL and Scuttt. After that, all eyes turn to the 2026 VCT EMEA season and the moment when Sayonara becomes eligible to play on the main stage.
Vitality’s 2025 season is not just a list of trophies. It is a good picture of modern esports. One organization can field teams in several games, reach fans in Europe, Asia and the Middle East at the same time, and sign global partners like Stake. The Stake interview with XTQZZZ shows the human side behind the bright yellow jerseys. It reminds us that success comes with long travel, tight schedules, and constant pressure to perform. It also shows how much thought goes into details that fans and bettors care about, like map pools, weapon balance, ranking systems, and the rise of new regions like Brazil and China.