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Esports

Team Vitality unveils Counter-Strike 2 academy team known as Vitality Academy

After dominating top division competitive CS2, the French team has set its sights on new horizons.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 23 April 2026

There's no beating around the bush, Team Vitality is the best Counter-Strike 2 team in the world right now. The French organisation currently operates arguably one of the greatest CS dynasties of all-time, and now it's putting in place a structure that hopefully will assure the main team is supported by skilled future talent.

Team Vitality has launched what it is calling Vitality Academy, an academy initiative that will aim to find and develop Counter-Strike 2 talent in an effort to "build the champions of tomorrow."

With this ambition in mind, the first slate of players and staff attached to Vitality Academy has been named, with the complete roster including the following.

  • Ulysse "katkame" Thiebault
  • Luca-Adrian "lucaZ" Gavrilut
  • Aleks "Reqqen" Frolov
  • Kirill "Dafra1D" Polieiko
  • Patrick "patrenzo" Hauer
  • Pablo "VdaK1NG" Escobar as the team coach
  • Matthieu Péché as the team manager

Speaking about its aim with Vitality Academy, Team Vitality's president, Fabien "Neo" DeVide has stated: "Creating a Counter-Strike academy means investing in the future of our ecosystem. For esports to continue growing and structuring itself, it must rely on strong development pathways capable of identifying, supporting, and nurturing tomorrow's talents. At Team Vitality, we want to perform today, but also build the champions of tomorrow and help elevate the entire scene to the next level."

Vitality Academy will be looking to compete in the second division of competitive Counter-Strike 2. The first tournament that will feature the team has yet to be named.

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
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