HLTV has named 10 nominees for its Hall of Fame Class of 2026, setting up a ballot that will send four players to Belgrade on 9 January 2027. Filip “NEO” Kubski is among them for the first time, after the rule that had kept coaches out was repealed before this round of nominations.
The ballot now places NEO alongside Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub and a field that mixes old and recent eras of Counter-Strike. It is the first time the committee has been able to consider him under the updated rules, and that alone makes this class different from the first two.
Rasmussen is on the ballot for a second time after missing out last year, while Schrub is nominated for the third straight year after being passed over in 2024 and 2025. Rambo is the only other first-time nominee. elemeNt, solo, SpawN and XeqtR are back after being left out of last year’s class, while fRoD and Ksharp have appeared on every Hall of Fame ballot since the project began.
The selection comes after HLTV overhauled the eligibility rules for CS:GO and CS2 players. A player must have gone 18 months without a big event and spent a year away from any main roster before becoming eligible, and the 12-person committee — which includes Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill, Jason “moses” O’Toole, Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey, Tommy “Potti” Ingemarsson and Dmitry “hooch” Bogdanov — now chooses from that pool.
That change matters most for NEO, who was previously held back by what HLTV called the “NEO rule.” He was voted Player of the Decade for the 2000s by HLTV’s users, was HLTV’s best player of 2011, and built a résumé that spans three WCG titles, two ESWC titles, two IEM World Championships in 1.6, a Major with Virtus.pro at EMS One Katowice 2014, and four trophies as a coach. Once that restriction disappeared, his path to the ballot opened at last.
The rest of the class carries the same kind of weight. dupreeh is the only player to have attended all 19 CS:GO Majors, won five of them, and already picked up a lifetime achievement award at the Esports Awards last year. HLTV counts 32 notable event wins and seven Top 20 placings for him. kennyS retired in May 2023 with 10 MVP awards, five Top 20 appearances and one Major title with Team EnVyUs at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, while HLTV says his AWP play was said to have played a part in Valve’s nerf of the weapon.
HLTV’s Hall of Fame started in 2024 with Potti, HeatoN, f0rest and GeT_RiGhT, then added cogu, markeloff and olofmeister as the Class of 2025 in January. Four more names will join that list in Belgrade next January, and the ballot now makes clear that the question is not whether the class will be loaded with marquee names, but which four the committee leaves standing at the end.
