As a tradition, last night the prestigious Forbes magazine updated its “30 Under 30” list for 2021 in Europe, where superstar playing for Vitality, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, was honored in the sports and gaming category.
“Known by the nickname ‘The Chosen One’ since his birthday coincides with the release date of Counter-Strike, Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut set the record for the most MVP awards in his first year of professional play (2019). Last year, he was recognized as the best player of the year on the HLTV ranking and extended his contract with Team Vitality for another 5 years.” – Forbes.
“30 Under 30” is a list created by Forbes to honor outstanding individuals under 30 years old who have achieved remarkable accomplishments in their fields. This list includes a variety of sectors such as business, social activities, music, entertainment, technology, and more. In recent years, several CS:GO players have been honored on this list, including Stewie2k (2018) and Device and Olofmeister (2020), among others.
At just 20 years old and having played professionally for about 2 years, his talent and contributions to Vitality’s success are undeniable. Every championship won by the French bees bears ZywOo’s strong imprint with outstanding performances and an incredibly stable form. In his 2 years with Vitality, he and his teammates have helped revive the French CS scene with 5 prestigious championships and numerous playoff appearances.
Individually, ZywOo has been honored 11 times as MVP in the tournaments he participated in (matching the Ukrainian superstar S1mple), along with being recognized as the best player of the year on the prestigious HLTV ranking for two consecutive years, a feat that only 2 other players have achieved in the over 10-year history of CS (Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Marcelo “coldzera” David).
In addition to ZywOo, this year’s list also features two other esports players being honored: Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen, currently playing for Team Secret (Dota 2), and Cloud9’s mid-laner Luke “Perkz” Perkovic (League of Legends).