ZywOo Wins Third HLTV Player of the Year to Match…

Mathieu “⁠ZywOo⁠” Herbaut has won the third HLTV Player of the Year award in his career, but he is not the only player who has achieved this prestigious feat

Team Vitality ace Mathieu “⁠ZywOo⁠” Herbaut has been named the HLTV Player of the Year 2023 in recognition of his incredible performance throughout the last year. The Frenchman picks up the most prestigious individual accolade in competitive Counter-Strike for the first time since 2020. He had won the award for the first time in 2019, which was his very first year as a top-tier professional. ZywOo now has three of these shiny crests in his cabinet, but he is not the only player who boasts such a haul.

🥇 AWPer of the Year
🥇 Highlight of the Year
🥇 Player of the Year

An incredible 2023 for @zywoo 👏 pic.twitter.com/XDFYEHy8Cf

— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) January 13, 2024

ZywOo Catches Up To….

ZywOo has now equaled Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev in HLTV Player of the Year triumphs. He has also matched the Natus Vincere legend’s five-year streak of consecutive top-2 finishes. This elevates their rivalry to a new level, setting the stage for an intriguing narrative in 2024, especially if s1mple decides to end his retirement in peak form.

ZywOo tonight is going to…

🥇🥇🥇 co-own w/ s1mple the record of #1 medals from HLTV (3).
🎖🎖🥈🥈🎖 co-own w/ s1mple the record of 5 years streak in the top2 min.
🥇🥇🥈🥈🥇 only player in the world with 5+ yrs on HLTV list and 100% top1/2.

Only a matter of time.

— Maniac (@Maniac_CSGO) January 13, 2024

ZywOo Recognized For His Incredible 2023 Performance

Credit: ZywOo on X

ZywOo kicked off the year with an impressive 1.42 rating. His lethal form led Vitality on a dominant march through the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, crushing giants like Astralis, Evil Geniuses, and Heroic in their wake.

Vitality navigated the early months of 2023 with impressive consistency, placing 5th-6th at IEM Katowice and 5-8th at ESL Pro League Season 17. While not dominant, these playoff appearances solidified their position as a top contender. ZywOo was an EVP at both tournaments and nearly snagged the MVP at Pro League despite a quarter-final exit. His monstrous stats (1.48 rating, 92 ADR, 1.64 impact, 79% KAST, 7 clutches in 9 maps) spoke volumes about his individual brilliance.

The Paris Major RMR was the next on their agenda, and Vitality smoothly progressed through it, clinching a third-place finish that earned them direct qualification to the tournament’s Legends Stage. Before they started their Major campaign on home soil, however, they had one more event on their schedule: IEM Rio 2023.

The tournament proved to be the perfect warm up opportunity for ZywOo and Vitality before the Paris Major. They brought the trophy home and ZywOo, unsurprisingly, was the standout player once again.

The 23-year-old was the MVP of the event and he followed up with another MVP performance that steered Vitality to Major glory in front of their home fans.