For a long time, women's esports remained largely overlooked by most players. In recent years, ESL has actively been developing it, primarily through the ESL Impact league. Twenty-eight teams across three different divisions compete for a spot in the final stage, held twice a year.
Here are the top five female CS 2 players according to HLTV:
5. Katarina "Kat" Vaskova
In fifth place is the Slovak player Kat with a rating of 1.16. Katarina, 26, started her esports career in 2022 with the powerhouse team Nigma Galaxy. She has played 4,500 matches on Faceit since December 2017. While she has played sparingly in mixed-gender tournaments, Nigma is gearing up for qualification in ESEA Main. In 2022, her team finished 9th-16th in ESEA Intermediate, the penultimate division.
Her high personal rating is partially explained by the strength of Nigma Galaxy, which has won all four seasons of ESL Impact and two additional tournaments (ESL Impact Katowice and ESL Impact Valencia). In the last season of the league, Kat was named MVP with a rating of 1.27.
4. Olga "Olga" Rodrigues
Twenty-nine-year-old Olga gained fame while playing for Furia but moved to the Asian team HSG in March of last year, marking one of the biggest transfers in women's esports. With three second-place finishes in the Brazilian club, Olga had a significant achievement in contrast to her dismal 2023: 7th-8th and 5th-6th place finishes in the third and fourth seasons of ESL Impact. Despite this, Olga boasts a rating of 1.19.
Rodrigues plays sparingly on Faceit, with only 376 matches and an Elo rating of 2,500, but she is present in the FPL-C hub in South America. Her performance and position in the ranking are even more impressive considering her support role in HSG. Olga initiates grenade throws at the start of rounds (with an average of 7.5 damage!), plays for retakes, and therefore rarely engages in duels in the first half of rounds.
3. Victoria "Tory" Kazieva
Twenty-five-year-old rifle player for Nigma Galaxy, Victoria has been part of the team for almost three years. Victoria has the same team achievements as Kat, along with 7,000 matches played on Faceit with an Elo rating of 2,500 and a K/D of 1.09. Additionally, she regularly streams to her 9,000 followers.
Kazieva has attended many LAN events, including IEM Katowice 2018 and tournaments by WESG. With a rating of 1.21 for the year 2023, Victoria excelled in the European division of ESL Impact (1.52 and 1.34, respectively).
2. Victoria "Vicu" Yanika
Second on the list is NAVI Javelins' sniper, with a rating of 1.24. Her team had a great year but couldn't surpass Nigma Galaxy, settling for silver in all major tournaments and topping the group stage twice. Vicu has played 5,000 matches on Faceit with an Elo rating of 2,800 and a K/D of 1.13. Victoria is the youngest in the top five, at just 21 years old.
1. Ana "Ana" Dumbrava
Last year, Ana was already recognized as the best by HLTV and is likely to receive a second title soon, with a rating of 1.28 and two MVP awards in her favor. At 24 years old, Ana from Romania has been playing CS professionally since 2015, with her Faceit account created a year earlier. Currently, she has an Elo rating of 3,000 and has played almost 4,000 matches. Dumbrava was the best at the Katowice tournament and in the third season's final.
Ana has been with Nigma Galaxy since the spring of 2020 when the lineup first appeared. Before that, Ana went through eight different teams and numerous tournaments, even attempting to qualify for ESWC 2016.