By Sagar V. Mankar 
Team Vitality wins IEM Katowice 2025, defeating Team Spirit 3-0 in the grand finals at the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland. The tournament, held from January 29 to February 9, saw 24 teams competing for a $1,250,000 prize pool.
Team Vitality’s path to victory included dominant group stage performances against 3DMAX, FaZe Clan, and Virtus.pro. They maintained this momentum through the playoffs, defeating The MongolZ in the semifinals before reaching the grand finals.
Their opponents, Team Spirit, secured their finals spot after overcoming Team Liquid and GamerLegion in the group stage, followed by strong playoff performances.
In the grand finals, Vitality showcased exceptional form across all three maps. On Spirit’s map pick Dust2, Robin “ropz” Kool led the charge with 26 kills and only 9 deaths, securing a 13-6 victory.
The second map, Nuke, saw Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut dominate with a 26-6 kill-death ratio, rarely needing his signature AWP weapon.
The final map, Mirage, initially followed Vitality’s control with an 11-4 lead before Spirit mounted a comeback with seven consecutive rounds. However, Vitality’s Shahar “flameZ” Shushan secured crucial kills in the final rounds to close out the series.
ZywOo earned the tournament MVP award, tying Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev’s record of 21 MVP medals.
This victory marked Vitality’s first Katowice trophy after six previous attempts and team leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire’s first win at the venue in the tournament’s 11-year history.
The prize pool distribution was as follows:
- 1st place: $400,000 – Team Vitality
- 2nd place: $180,000 – Team Spirit
- 3rd-4th place: $80,000 each – The MongolZ, Natus Vincere
- 5th-6th place: $40,000 each – Eternal Fire, Virtus.pro
- 7th-8th place: $24,000 each – FaZe Clan, GamerLegion
- 9th-12th place: $16,000 each – G2 Esports, 3DMAX, Astralis, Team Liquid
- 13th-16th place: $10,000 each – Team Falcons, BIG, FURIA Esports, MOUZ
- 17th-20th place: $4,500 each – Wildcard, paiN Gaming, MIBR, HEROIC
- 21st-24th place: $2,500 each – Complexity, FlyQuest, SAW, Imperial Female
The tournament also broke viewership records. According to Esports Charts, the finale between Team Vitality and Team Spirit peaked at over 1.299 million viewers, surpassing the previous record set at the IEM Katowice Major in 2019. So far in 2025, this event holds the top viewership for any esports tournament.