The StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 was the fourth Counter-Strike 2Major Championship and twenty-third Counter-Strike Major overall. It was held in Budapest, Hungary, from November 24 to December 14, 2025. It was the second Major organized by StarLadder, after Berlin 2019. Each stage of the tournament was held in front of live audiences, with the first three stages being held at MTK Sportpark and the playoffs held at the MVM Dome.[1] The Major was the second to feature 32 teams, with all teams being directly invited to the Major,[2] and was the first Major to have a best-of-five grand final.[3] It featured a prize pool of US$1,250,000.[4]
The Major was announced by StarLadder on 12 May 2025, and was their second in six years after last hosting the Berlin 2019 Major.[4]
Team Vitality were the Major's defending champions following a 2–1 victory over The MongolZ at Austin 2025.[8]
Format
The tournament involves three Swiss-system group stages before an eight-team single-elimination playoffs. The Major featured 32 teams directly invited according to their Valve Regional Standings (VRS), following the scrapping of Major Regional Qualifiers.[9] Eight teams are eliminated from each Swiss-system stage before the final eight teams compete in a single-elimination playoff bracket to determine a champion. Each match after the initial matchups of each stage and the initial matchups of the Playoffs Stage are seeded according to teams' Buchholz score.
In the first three stages, all matches except for progression or elimination matches, which are played as bests-of-three, are played in a best-of-one format. Each match in the Playoffs Stage before the grand final is played in a best-of-three format, with the final being a best-of-five.
Map pool
On July 16, 2025, following the Austin Major, Valve updated the Active Duty maps used for the Majors, replacing Anubis with Overpass.[10]
Invites to the Major were distributed to each region according to their performance at Austin 2025, with the number for each region past Stage 1 determined by the number of teams of each region that advanced to the next Stage. The ten highest ranked European teams in the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) were invited to Stages 2 and 3, with five in each, along with two Americas teams and one Asian team in each stage.[13] The distribution of Stage 1 invites remain the same as in Austin.[14]
The final VRS update determining invites was on 6 October 2025,[15] with invites officially being sent on 8 October 2025.[9]
Invited teams
Below are the qualified teams for each region, based on their VRS standing as of 6 October 2025.[16][17]
Stage 1 featured sixteen directly invited teams based on their global Valve Regional Standings, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Teams were initially seeded according to their Valve Regional Standing, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score. Sixteen teams competed for eight Stage 2 spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 1 was played from November 24 to November 27, 2025.
Stage 2 featured eight directly invited teams based on their Valve Regional Standings as well as eight teams qualified from Stage 1, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Invited teams were initially seeded according to their global Valve Regional Standing, while the eight teams qualified from Stage 2 were seeded according to their final Buchholz score, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score in Stage 2. Sixteen teams competed for eight Stage 3 spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 2 was played from November 29 to December 2, 2025.
Stage 3 featured eight directly invited teams based on their Valve Regional Standings as well as eight teams qualified from Stage 2, competing in a Swiss-system bracket. Invited teams were initially seeded according to their global Valve Regional Standing, while the eight teams qualified from Stage 2 were seeded according to their final Buchholz score, with further matches seeded according to a team's Buchholz score in Stage 3. Sixteen teams competed for eight Stage 3 spots, with all matches besides elimination and progression matches, which are bests-of-three, being bests-of-one.
Stage 3 was played from December 4 to December 7, 2025.
The playoffs were held at the MVM Dome in Budapest.
The top eight teams from Stage 3 advanced to a single-elimination bracket. Teams were seeded according to their final Buchholz score earned in Stage 3. Each match in the Playoffs Stage before the grand final is played in a best-of-three format, with the final being a best-of-five.
The Playoffs Stage was played between December 11 and December 14, 2025, at the MVM Dome.
The final placings are shown below. In addition, the prize distribution, roster, and coaches are shown. An eliminated team's final position is decided by its win-loss record, then by its Buchholz score and finally by its initial seeding in the case of ties.[18]
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