Team Vitality are the IEM Katowice 2025 champions

Yesterday saw the conclusion of another major Counter-Strike 2 tournament in the 2025 calendar. The annual (or maybe not so much going forward...?) Intel Extreme Masters Katowice tournament came to a close, with an action-packed finale that saw Team Vitality and Team Spirit slugging it out on the main stage.

After a dominant performance, Team Vitality came out on top, lifting the trophy and securing $400,000 of the total $1 million prize pool for their own.

But this wasn't all that Team Vitality won, as Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut was also named MVP for the tournament, after another powerful showing on one of the biggest stages in competitive Counter-Strike.

This result has also set Team Vitality to be the likely next to secure an Intel Grand Slam too. The award that is given to a team that wins four ESL Pro Tour events (which include IEM tournaments) within a ten-tournament span also sees that organisation being given a $1 million cash prize. Following the IEM Katowice result and the IEM Cologne victory last summer, the team now has six chances to win two more events to be regarded as a Grand Slam winner too. Mathematically speaking, this also puts them as one of the frontrunners for the award as the only other team with a better chance is Natus Vincere, who also need to win two ESL events but within the next seven tournaments.

As for what's next for Team Vitality, the squad will be competing at the ESL Pro League's 21st season, where perhaps it will add another notch to its Grand Slam hopes... Do you think we'll see that happen?