Esports Spanish Players 2025
The esports scene is getting more and more attention, with tournament prize pools growing and the best players getting more and more recognition.
Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends and Valorant are the games where the best players have the biggest fan communities.
In Spain, as in other countries, there are players who, along with other stars, can be called the best players in the world. Let’s meet the best esports Spanish players and remember the very best in the industry.
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What Is an Esports Player?
First of all, let’s start with what an esports player is. To some extent, esports players are those who do it at least semi-professionally for a living. If you play basketball in your spare time, that does not mean you are a basketball player.
The same is true for esports games. Those who play as an amateur are not esports players, but those who do it professionally or pursue a professional career are esports players.
TOP 5 Most Famous Esports Spanish Players
Spain has a pretty solid esports scene, with well-known players in different games. With several teams competing in top-level tournaments, the local crowd really has something to cheer about. Below we’ve highlighted one of the most famous Spaniards in five different games.
Mixwell – Valorant
Oscar “Mixwell” Canellas, 29, is a Valorant player who most recently played for the well-known Team Heretics.
He played for two different teams between 2020 and 2024 – G2 Esports and Team Heretics. The tournament prize pools have raised more than $78,000.
Before his debut at Valorant, he played Counter-Strike: GO and while representing OpTic Gaming, he and his team had risen to second place in the HLTV rankings.
Flakked – League of Legends
Viktor “Flakked” Lirola, 23, is a professional League of Legends player and currently represents Team Heretics. This is his fifth team in total, having previously represented S2V Esports, Mad Lions Madrid, G2 Esports and Los Heretics.
He has won $50,000 from the tournament prizes. In 2022, he and G2 Esports became LEC Spring 2022 champions.
SunPayus – Counter-Strike 2
Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, 26, is the best Counter-Strike 2 player in Spain and is currently part of the Falcons. The Spaniard started his career in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and his first team was Myrtia Wolves Blue.
Later he represented Tenerife Titans, KPI Gaming, Wygers, Caronte Gaming and Iberian Family. He excelled with Movistar Riders and his biggest successes were with ENCE.
In 2023, he was one of the most important players on the ENCE team, and he was ranked as high as sixth in the HLTV rankings, ahead of well-known players such as s1mple, sh1ro, device, cadiaN and others.
He hasn’t had the best of years since moving to the Falcons, and chances are that we will see the Spaniard in another organisation in the near future. So far in his career, he has won more than $260,000 from tournament prize money.
Neat – FIFA
Ander “Neat” Tobal, 20, is a well-known FIFA player who currently represents Manchester City. The young Spaniard started his career at QLASH before moving to DUX Gaming where he spent four years. From 31 October 2024 “Neat” represents Manchester City.
During his career, the Spaniard has already managed to collect more than $410,000 in prize money. In 2023, the FIFAe Club World Cup 2023 was held in places 5 to 8. Last year, LaLiga FC Pro 2024 finished 3-4 in the final.
TaToH – Age of Empires
Roberto “TaToh” Jimenez, 35, is an Age of Empires player who is currently representing GamerLegion, where he will play from 2020. According to the Spaniard himself, he has been playing Age of Empires II since 2001, but started to show good results in 2018 when he joined TyRanT.
His first team was WolfpacK, and from 2018 to 2020 he played for Team Secret. Throughout his career, TaToH has won more than $223,000 from tournament prize pools.
Top Esports Players In the World
We’ve met the best esports players in Spain, now let’s take a look at which players are named among the best in the world. We’ve picked out some of the best-known League of Legends, Counter-Strike: GO, Valorant and Dota 2 players.
League of Legends
League of Legends is one of the most popular games worldwide. Tournaments have prize pools of millions of US dollars. Although the game is particularly popular in Asian countries, Europeans can also be seen among the top players.
Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok) – South Korea
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, 28, is often cited as the best League of Legends player of all time. The Korean spent his entire career with T1, with whom he won multiple World Championships.
Faker has collected more than $1.7 million in tournament prize money. In 2024, he won the League of Legends World Championship for the third time in a row, and was also named Esports Player of the Year.
Caps (Rasmus Winther) – Denmark
Rasmus “Caps” Winther, 25, is a League of Legends player from Denmark who currently represents G2 Esports. He started his career at mousesports in 2016, then moved briefly to Nerv, then played for Dark Passage and Fnatic, and has been part of G2 Esports since 2018.
During his career, he has won more than $700,000 in prize money. He finished runner-up at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO)
Counter-Strike: GO is a well-known game that has fully migrated to Counter-Strike 2 for the 2024 season. Professional players have had to leave CS:GO behind and focus on CS2.
For some players, this led to career lows, for others it was an opportunity to rise to the top. In 2024, the list of top CS2 players includes “donk”, “ZywOo” and “m0NESY”.
S1mple (Oleksandr Kostyliev) – Ukraine
Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev, 27, from Ukraine, is often named as the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player of all time.
Spending the best years of his career with NaVi, he has won more than $1.7 million in tournament prize money. He has been named Player of the Year three times and runner-up twice. He was once world champion, where he was also named MVP.
ZywOo (Mathieu Herbaut) – France
While S1mple is on hold, 24-year-old Frenchman ZywOo is fast catching up with the Ukrainian in terms of individual awards.
Mathieu Herbaut started his career with dizLown and since 2018 he has been playing for Team Vitality, with whom he once won the World Championship and was named Best Player. “ZywOo” has been voted Player of the Year three times since 2019, and has been runner-up twice.
Dota 2
If Valorant rivals Counter-Strike 2 in terms of attention, Dota 2 is a direct rival to League of Legends. Both games are particularly popular in Asia, but it is also a well-known game in Europe, which also allows it to have a particularly high level of players.
N0tail (Johan Sundstein) – Denmark
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein, 31, is a well-known Dota 2 player who is not currently competing. N0tail started his career at Fnatic and later played for Team Secret, Cloud9 and Monkey Business.
In total, he has won an impressive total of more than $7 million in tournament prize money. Representing OG, he won The International twice in a row in 2018 and 2019.
Miracle- (Amer Al-Barkawi) – Jordan
27-year-old Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi is a dual citizen, with a Jordanian dad and Polish mum. He started his career with Balkan Bears, then moved to Monkey Business, but the whole team quickly moved to OG, where N0tail was playing at the same time.
However, Miracle- didn’t stay in OG for long and moved to Team Liquid a year later. Since 2019, the player has represented Nigma Galaxy. In total, he has won almost $5 million in tournament prize money.
Valorant
Valorant can be said to be a direct competitor to Counter-Strike 2. It is clear that they are competing for the attention of the public, and the two games are also linked by the fact that a number of well-known Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players have moved to Valorant and are continuing their professional careers here.
We’ve highlighted two well-known Valorant players from around the world.
Yay (Jacob Whiteaker) – USA
Jacob “Yay” Whiteaker, 26, is a professional Valorant player who currently represents the Evil Geniuses team.
He started his career with Andbox in 2020, then played for Team Envy, OpTic Gaming, Cloud9, Disguised, Bleed Esports, and as of December 20, 2024, he is a member of Evil Geniuses. He has won a total of $145,000 from tournament prize pools during his career.
Mixwell (Oscar Canellas) – Spain
Oscar “Mixwell” Canellas, 29, is well known not only in Spain but also around the world. The former CS:GO player spent the last years of his career at Valorant, where he won almost $79,000 in tournaments.
His last stop in his career was Team Heretics, before which he played for G2 Esports, where he was also a CS:GO preview player.
The Importance of Gamers in the Esports Industry
It has to be acknowledged that most of the success in esports comes from the biggest stars. Fans often come to watch specific players rather than their favourite esports teams. Where a favourite player plays usually determines the team they support.
In the esports industry, there are many international teams, which makes it difficult for spectators to get attached to a local team and focus more on individual players. As a result, the importance of players in esports is enormous.
How are Amateur, Semi-professional and Professional Levels Determined?
We’ve had a brief look at what an esports player is, but now let’s take a look at how their level is determined.
Amateur esports players are those who have had at least a minimum of professional experience or have a good understanding of the game and relate their lives at least partly to it. For example, filming themselves playing, connecting with spectators, creating content for a particular game.
Semi-professionals are those players who are working towards a professional career or are in the middle of one. This is a lower level where not all players are paid. They may only collect a salary from the prize pool of tournaments if they manage to win something.
Professional players are the ones who get paid to play. Usually a player signs a contract with an organisation and receives a stable salary. The remuneration for professionals can vary widely, but the salary already shows that the player is a professional.
Main Platforms for Esports Betting
Nowadays, almost all online betting platforms have a dedicated esports section where a wide variety of bets can be placed. As a result, players no longer need to specifically search for a company where esports betting is available.
It is now possible to simply choose a reliable and secure betting site according to their preferences and make the esports selections they want. You can get to know the best esports bookmakers on our website, where we have not only compiled lists of the best companies, but have also carried out detailed reviews.
Spanish Esports Players Summary
Professional esports bettors are a large part of the industry. Admittedly, it is the players, not the organisations, that are currently attracting the most interest.
If a well-known player changes teams, there is a good chance that he will bring with him the majority of the fan support. As a result, esports organisations need to take note of this and realise that the loss of a key player can cost a significant loss of popularity.
League of Legends, Dota 2, Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 are the games where fans pay the most attention to the players. Valorant and CS2 are mostly compared to each other, with some overlap between audiences and players.
However, nobody usually moves from Valorant to CS2, whereas a number of players have moved from CS:GO to Valorant.
League of Legends and Dota 2 are the games with the most attention and impressive prize pools in the biggest tournaments. In 2024, the best esports player in the world was Faker from League of Legends.
FAQ About Esports Spanish Players
⭐ What games are most popular among Spanish esports players?
Valorant, League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2, FIFA, and Age of Empires.
⭐ How do esports players earn money?
Through tournament prize pools, contracts with teams, and sponsorships.
⭐ Which Spanish esports player has the highest earnings?
Ander “Neat” Tobal, with over $410,000 in FIFA prize money.
⭐ What defines a professional esports player?
A professional player is paid a salary by an organization and competes in tournaments.
⭐ Why are players more popular than teams in esports?
Fans often support individual players over teams due to their personal skills and achievements.