Vitality sweep MOUZ to win ESL Pro League S24: ZywOo MVP and a record sixth title for ropz
Vitality are back on top. The French side were crowned ESL Pro League Season 24 champions on 11 October in Katowice after sweeping MOUZ 3-0 in a grand final they controlled from start to finish, the last map aside.
It's also their second title in a row, after StarSeries Fall in September, and the one that confirms ZywOo's team are once again the side to beat.
The final, map by map
The series opened on Cache, and not ideally: MOUZ went 5-1 up on the CT side. Vitality answered with six rounds in a row to flip the first half and closed the map 13-7.
Inferno was one-way traffic. Vitality went into the break 9-3 and finished it 13-8, helped by a force-buy won on offence right at the start of the second half.
The drama came on Dust2. Constant pressure on B wore MOUZ down, but xertioN's multi-kills handed the Germans three map points. Vitality saved every one, forced overtime, and there MOUZ couldn't win a single one of their three T-side rounds. 16-12 and the trophy.
ZywOo, unstoppable again
The star of the show has a name. ZywOo finished the final with a 1.65 rating, 64 kills to 33 deaths and 90.3 average damage per round. It wasn't a one-off: he topped the scoreboard in all three playoff matches, with a 1.66 against PARIVISION and a 1.44 against Aurora.
Across the whole tournament he finished on 1.43, the highest of any player, and first in kills per round too. The reward was the event MVP, his sixth of 2026 and the 34th of his career, extending his own all-time record.
After the final, the Frenchman delivered a line Vitality had been waiting a while to say: "the curse is definitely broken," referring to how badly Katowice had historically gone for the team.
ropz makes history
The title has another angle, less visible but just as significant. With this win, Robin "ropz" Kool has his sixth ESL Pro League, more than any other player. He won his first in Season 10, in 2020, and the latest now, in Season 24. apEX is next with five.
Vitality, for their part, become the organisation with the most Pro League titles, with four.
Next up: Bucharest, without apEX
There won't be much rest. The next stop is PGL Masters Bucharest, starting 24 October, and Vitality will arrive without a key piece: apEX will miss it as he awaits the birth of his first child. mezii will try to take on the IGL role, and the team expects to cover the absence by communicating more as a group.
ZywOo didn't sound worried: "it doesn't matter if he's there or not, we'll still try to win." On the evidence of Katowice, nobody is going to doubt it.
Source: HLTV, ESL, Insider Gaming.