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Esports is synonymous with competition and there are a plethora of tournaments organized each year. The industry has garnered a lot of attention from gamers worldwide and its exponents have gained fame over the course of time. Professional esports players, also called athletes, exemplify the appeal of esports games like Dota 2, League of Legends. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and many others.
The strong playerbase of such games, combined with the thrill of the esports tournaments boosts the popularity of professional esports athletes. While there are an overwhelming number of teams comprising unique players with distinct personalities, the ones on this list are revered by many.
Disclaimer: This listicle is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
Lee Sang-hyeok, Johan Sundstein, and eight other popular esports players
1) Lee Sang-hyeok (Faker)
Lee Sang-hyeok is touted as The Unkillable Demon King owing to his string of championship wins in the years 2013, 2015, and 2016. He is associated with team T1, as they managed to secure second spot in the League of Legends World Championship in 2022.
His consistency in tournaments can be evidenced by his feats like being the first player to achieve 2500 kills in League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK). There are still many tournaments in the future that are opportunities for Lee to stack up more achievements and surpass his own records.
2) Kyle Giersdorf (Bugha)
Fortnite is a juggernaut in the esports domain and Kyle Gierdorf is one of the most prominent personalities to emerge out of its popularity. Despite being a younger gamer, Kyle has managed to amass a robust following on YouTube with more than 4 million subscribers.
His popularity led Epic Games to introduce an outfit resembling Kyle in 2021. Furthermore, he has been included in Forbes 30 under 30 lists in the Games division. With his most recent performance of nabbing second place in the Fortnite Duos Cash Cup, Kyle has cemented his popularity among avid Fortnite fans.
3) Johan Sundstein (N0tail)
Johan Sundstein is a prominent Dota 2 player and is regarded as one of the richest professionals in the esports domain. He is also credited with being the co-founder of one of the top esports teams in OG.
His popularity can be owed to back-to-back victories in major tournaments over the last few years. OG won the International in 2018 and 2019 with Johan in the team, which was instrumental in bolstering his prominence in the esports industry.
4) Peter Rasmussen (Dupreeh)
Peter is an excellent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and is associated with Team Vitality. However, he had a strong affiliation with Astralis between 2015 and 2021. Peter and his teammates set a new record of winning four Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, three of which were won consecutively.
He credits all his success to his father, who struggled with cancer and still supported him in pursuing his dream of participating in tournaments. He has amassed more than a million from clinching victories but his empathetic persona has led to a surge in his popularity.
5) Oleksandr Kostyliev (s1mple)
Speaking of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, one cannot overlook Oleksandr Kostyliev of Team Natus Vincere. He is also fondly referred to as The Undertaker by his fans. He also secured the best player award from HLTV twice and continues to excel in the game as evidenced by the team’s chain of victories since 2019.
Oleksandr was also nominated for the best esports athlete category at the Game Awards 2022. Apart from being popular, he is one of the most decorated gamers as he has several MVP awards from tournaments like IEM Cologne 2022, Blast Premier: Spring Finals 2022, and countless others.
6) Jesse Vainikka (JerAx)
While Jesse had declared his retirement from competing in Dota 2 back in 2020, he returned to the competition by siding with a prominent team called Evil Geniuses in 2021. He then took the mantle as a coach for Team Liquid but stepped down in late 2022.
However, he has amassed more than $6 million in earnings throughout his eventful stint in Dota 2 esports tournaments. He is still popular in the Dota 2 community and stays active on Twitter along with trying out new games.
7) Olof Gustafsson (Olafmeister)
Olof is yet another skilled Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player and is currently associated with FaZe Clan. However, the majority of his achievements unraveled during his stint with Fnatic as he was given the title of best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in 2015.
Despite taking a brief break from the competitive scene in 2020, he rejoined FaZe clan. Olof has a whopping 663k followers count on Twitch wherein he streams occasional matches and interacts with players in the chat.
8) Finn Anderson (Karrigan)
Finn Anderson is a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran and has been partaking in tournaments since 2006. He achieved the feat of being the oldest player to win a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament (age 32 years at the time of victory) in 2022.
Finn has had one of the most eventful careers and has played for a number of teams like Team Dignitas, Astralis, Fnatic, Mouseports, Team Envy, and Team SoloMid. He is an active personality with a robust social media presence, including 111k followers on Instagram and 435k followers on Twitter.
9) Seth Abner (Scump)
Seth Abner might have bid farewell to the competitive Call of Duty esports domain, but he remains one of the most popular esports personalities. This is evidenced by a whopping 2.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He is currently in partnership with OpTic Gaming.
He is focused on streaming content but one cannot ignore the 31 tournament victories he has amassed in his extensive career. Seth also has a healthy following on Twitter (2.2 million) wherein he consistently posts gameplay highlights.
10) Daigo Umehara (The Beast)
Only a handful of players are as decorated as Daigo Umehera. Touted as The Beast, he has an expansive career that began way back in 1995. Daigo is a Street Fighter veteran and has nabbed six EVO championship victories. Many consider him to be one of the best Street Fighter players in the world.
Daigo has an official partnership with RedBull and is one of the rarest esports players to be a part of books and manga series. He has a robust following on Twitch (247K followers) and Twitter (138.9K followers).
There are many other popular competitors apart from the aforementioned ones as esports is constantly evolving. Those inclined to delve into such competitive avenues can check out this list of five titles with the most active competitive scene.
