The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 was the fourth Counter-Strike 2 Major Championship and twenty-third Counter-Strike Major overall. It was held in Budapest, Hungary, from November 24 to December 14, 2025. It was the second Major organized by StarLadder, after Berlin 2019. Each stage of the tournament was held in front of live audiences, with the first three stages being held at MTK Sportpark and the playoffs held at the MVM Dome. The Major was the second to feature 32 teams, with all teams being directly invited to the Major, and was the first Major to have a best-of-five grand final. It featured a prize pool of .
Team Vitality were crowned champions after a 3–1 victory over FaZe Clan, their third title. Vitality's Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut was awarded his third Major MVP, the most of any player.
Background Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation. It is the fifth game in the Counter-Strike series. In professional Counter-Strike, the Valve-sponsored Majors are considered the most prestigious tournaments.
The Major was announced by StarLadder on 12 May 2025, and was their second in six years after last hosting the Berlin 2019 Major.
Team Vitality were the Major's defending champions following a 2–1 victory over The MongolZ at Austin 2025. Vitality ended the tournament as champions, becoming the third organization to win consecutive Majors after Fnatic and Astralis.
Format The tournament involves three Swiss-system group stages before an eight-team single-elimination playoffs. The Major featured 32 teams directly invited according to their Valve Regional Standings (VRS), following the scrapping of Major Regional Qualifiers. Eight teams are eliminated from each Swiss-system stage before the final eight teams compete in a single-elimination playoff bracket to determine a champion. Each match after the initial matchups of each stage and the initial matchups of the Playoffs Stage are seeded according to teams' Buchholz score.
In the first three stages, all matches except for progression or elimination matches, which are played as bests-of-three, are played in a best-of-one format. Each match in the Playoffs Stage before the grand final is played in a best-of-three format, with the final being a best-of-five.
Map pool On July 16, 2025, following the Austin Major, Valve updated the Active Duty maps used for the Majors, replacing Anubis with Overpass. Ancient Dust II Inferno Mirage Nuke Train Overpass
Talent On October 28, 2025, StarLadder announced the full talent lineup for the Major.
Hosts James Banks (arena host) Freya Spiers (desk host) Sam "Tech Girl" Wright (desk host)
Analysts Jacob "Pimp" Winneche Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg Jonatan "Devilwalk" Lundberg Teodor "Tedd" Borisov
Casters Mohan "launders" Govindasamy Conner "Scrawny" Girvan Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill Alex "Machine" Richardson Harry "JustHarry" Russell Hugo Byron Jason "moses" O'Toole Adam "Dinko" Hawthorne
Teams Qualification Invites to the Major were distributed to each region according to their performance at Austin 2025, with the number for each region past Stage 1 determined by the number of teams of each region that advanced to the next Stage. The ten highest ranked European teams in the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) were invited to Stages 2 and 3, with five in each, along with two Americas teams and one Asian team in each stage. The distribution of Stage 1 invites remain the same as in Austin.
The final VRS update determining invites was on 6 October 2025, with invites officially being sent on 8 October 2025.
Invites Below are the qualified teams for each region, based on their VRS standing as of 6 October 2025. RegionQualified StageStage 1Stage 2Stage 3Europe FaZe Clan GamerLegion Ninjas in Pyjamas B8 Esports PARIVISION fnatic Aurora Gaming Natus Vincere Astralis 3DMAX Team Liquid Team Vitality Team Spirit Team Falcons MOUZ G2 EsportsAmericas Legacy Imperial Esports M80 NRG Esports Fluxo RED Canids MIBR Passion UA FURIA Esports paiN GamingAsia Lynn Vision The Huns Esports FlyQuest Rare Atom TYLOO The MongolZ
Rosters Below are the rosters for each qualified team.
Legends The Legends rosters includes the eight teams directly invited to Stage 3 of the Major. Legends Team RostersTeam NameCore RosterCoachSubstitute PlayerFURIA Esports Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis Danil "molodoy" Golubenko Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato Yuri "yuurih" Santos Gabriel "FalleN" ToledoSid "sidde" Macedo rowspan="2" Team Vitality Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut Shahar "flameZ" Shushan Dan "apEX" Madesclaire Robin "ropz" Kool William "mezii" MerrimanRémy "XTQZZZ" QuoniamTeam Falcons Nikola "NiKo" Kovač René "TeSeS" Madsen Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski Maxim "kyousuke" Lukin Ilya "m0NESY" OsipovDanny "zonic" SørensenSzymon "kRaSnaL" MrozekThe MongolZ Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren Ayush "mzinho" Batbold Sodbayar "Techno4K" Munkhbold Usukhbayar "910" Banzragch Erdenedalai "maaRaa" BayanbatUnudelger "controlez" BaasanjargalMOUZ Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin Dorian "xertioN" Berman Lotan "Spinx" GiladiDennis "sycrone" NielsenAdrian "xelex" VinczeTeam Spirit Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov Danil "donk" Kryshkovets
Ivan "zweih" GoginSergey "hally" ShavaevAndrey "tN1R" TatarinovichG2 Esports Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač Álvaro "SunPayus" García Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko Matúš "MATYS" Šimko Mario "malbsMd" SamayoaEetu "sAw" SahaVilius "tAk" KeserauskaspaiN Gaming Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt David "dav1deuS" Tapia Maldonado Lucas "nqz" Soares Franco "dgt" Garcia João "snow" ViniciusHenrique "rikz" Waku
Challengers The Challengers rosters includes the eight teams directly invited to Stage 2 of the Major. Challengers Team RostersTeam NameCore RosterCoachSubstitute PlayerAurora Gaming Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş Engin "MAJ3R" Küpeli Samet "jottAAA" Köklü Özgür "woxic" Eker Ali "Wicadia" Haydar YalçınSezgin "Fabre" KalaycıNatus Vincere Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov Mihai "iM" Ivan Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen Drin "makazze" Shaqiri Valeriy "b1t" VakhovskiyAndrey "B1ad3" GorodenskiyJustinas "jL" LekaviciusTeam Liquid Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak Keith "NAF" Markovic Guy "NertZ" IluzViktor "flashie" Tamás Bea3DMAX Pierre "Ex3rcice" Bulinge Lucas "Lucky" Chastang Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro Filip "Graviti" Brankovic Bryan "Maka" CandaPierre "YouKnow" MarcoNabil "Nivera" BenrlitomAstralis Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard Nicolai "device" Reedtz Victor "Staehr" Staehr Emil "Magisk" ReifCasper "ruggah" Due rowspan="2" TYLOO Jingxiang "Mercury" Wang Qianhao "Moseyuh" Chen Dongkai "Jee" Ji Yuanzhang "Attacker" Sheng Yi "JamYoung" YangWeijie "zhokiNg" ZhongMIBR Raphael "exit" Lacerda Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev Felipe "insani" Yuji Klimentii "kl1m" Krivosheev Breno "brnz4n" PolettoJhonatan "jnt" SilvaBruno "brn$" de AraújoPassion UA Johnny "JT" Theodosiou Vladyslav "Kvem" Korol Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli Michael "Grim" Wince Nick "nicx" LeeTiaan "T.c" Coertzen
Contenders The Contenders rosters includes the sixteen teams directly invited to Stage 1 of the Major. Contenders Team RostersTeam NameCore RosterCoachSubstitute PlayerLegacy Lucas "lux" Meneghini Guilherme "saadzin" Pacheco Bruno "latto" Rebelatto Vinicius "n1ssim" Pereira Eduardo "dumau" WolkmerOlavo "chucky" NapoleãoFaZe Clan Finn "karrigan" Andersen Jakub "jcobbb" Pietruszewski Helvijs "broky" Saukants David "frozen" Čerňanský Filip "NEO" KubskiRussel "Twistzz" Van DulkenB8 Esports Daniil "headtr1ck" Valitov Alexey "alex666" Yarmoshchuk Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi Artem "kensizor" Kapran Dmytro "esenthial" TsvirIvan "maddened" IordanidiVolodymyr "k1n" KozovykGamerLegion Oldřich "PR" Nový Fredrik "REZ" Sterner Erik "ztr" Gustafsson Sebastian "Tauson" Tauson LindelofAshley "ash" BattyeMilan "hypex" Polowiecfnatic Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson Benjamin "blameF" Bremer Rodion "fEAR" Smyk Dmytro "jambo" Semera Miks "Independent" SiliņšNikita "jackasmo" SkybaPARIVISION Dzhami "Jame" Ali Andrey "BELCHONOKK" Yasinskiy Emil "nota" Moskvitin Andrey "AW" Anisimov Vladislav "xiELO" LysovDastan "dastan" AkbayevNinjas in Pyjamas Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara Artem "r1nkle" Moroz Rasmus "sjuush" Beck Michel "ewjerkz" PintoRichard "Xizt" LandströmPavle "Maden" BoškovićImperial Esports Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo Santino "try" Rigal Kaiky "noway" Santos Felipe "skullz" Medeiros Marcelo "chelo" CespedesRafael "zakk" Fernandes rowspan="3" FlyQuest Joshua "INS" Potter Iulian "regali" Harjău Justin "jks" Savage Corey "nettik" Browne Declan "Vexite" PortelliAaron "AZR" WardLynn Vision Zhe "Westmelon" Niu Junjie "EmiliaQAQ" Tang Sike "z4kr" Zhang Qihao "C4LLM3SU3" Su Lizhi "Starry" YeYifei "GUM" DaiM80 Michael "Swisher" Schmid Elias "s1n" Stein Mason "Lake" Sanderson Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich Jadan "HexT" PostmaRory "dephh" JacksonFrank "M0nstr" VopatFluxo Andrei "arT" Piovezan Lucas "Lucaozy" Neves Romeu "zevy" Rocco Kayke "kye" Bertolucci Lucas "decenty" BacelarMarcos "tacitus" CastilhoMatheus "mlhzin" MarçolaRED Canids André "drop" Abreu Allan "history" Lawrenz Carlos "venomzera" Eduardo Richard "chayJESUS" Seidy Kaue "kauez" KaschukGustavo "tge" MottaThe Huns Esports Tengis "sk0R" Batjargal Anarbileg "cobrazera" Uuganbayar Yesuntumur "nin9" Gantulga Munkhtogtokh "xerolte" Enkhbat Baatarkhuu "Bart4k" BatboldBadral "Carnage" Purevkhuu"Timothy"NRG Esports Zack "XotiC" Elshani Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek Alexander "br0" Bro
Jeorge "Jeorge" EndicottDamian "daps" SteeleRare Atom Tzu-Chi "Marek" Huang Yihang "L1haNg" Li Yulun "Summer" Cai Junbing "Tiger" Zhen Junhao "ChildKing" PengZhenghui "z8z" LiuShengxuan "chengking" Zu
Stage 1 Stage 1 featured sixteen directly invited teams based on their global Valve Regional Standings, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Teams were initially seeded according to their Valve Regional Standing, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score. Sixteen teams competed for eight Stage 2 spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 1 was played from November 24 to November 27, 2025.
Results
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Stage 2 Stage 2 featured eight directly invited teams based on their Valve Regional Standings as well as eight teams qualified from Stage 1, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Invited teams were initially seeded according to their global Valve Regional Standing, while the eight teams qualified from Stage 2 were seeded according to their final Buchholz score, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score in Stage 2. Sixteen teams competed for eight Stage 3 spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 2 was played from November 29 to December 2, 2025.
Results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Stage 3 Stage 3 featured eight directly invited teams based on their Valve Regional Standings as well as eight teams qualified from Stage 2, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Invited teams were initially seeded according to their global Valve Regional Standing, while the eight teams qualified from Stage 2 were seeded according to their final Buchholz score, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score in Stage 3. Sixteen teams competed for eight Playoffs Stage spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 3 was played from December 4 to December 7, 2025.
Results Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Playoffs stage