s1mple places 7th in ranking of best players of 2023

Ukrainian esports athlete Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev secured seventh place in the ranking of the best players of 2023 according to the reputable portal HLTV.org. This is the worst performance in the AWPer's career since 2017, when he finished in eighth place.

s1mple did not have the most convincing year in terms of team achievements. Together with NAVI, the Ukrainian reached the final of ESL Pro League Season 18, as well as the semi-finals of IEM Katowice 2023, ESL Pro League Season 17 and IEM Rio 2023. Moreover, in October Kostyliev went inactive, departing the starting five of the Black-and-Yellow.

As HLTV.org editors noted, this is what prevented the star sniper from placing higher in the top 20. However, his high rating against top 20 teams (1.18 – 3rd in the world), percentage of rounds with 2+ kills (19.2% – 4th in the world) and four exceptionally valuable player (EVP) awards allowed him to finish 8th.

HLTV.org will publish the top 20 players of 2023 every day from December 27 to January 13, 2024. The winner of the 6th place will be announced tomorrow, January 10, at 20:00 CET.

Top 20 players of 2023 according to HLTV.org are:

7. Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (NAVI)
8. Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov (Cloud9/Team Spirit)
9.  Martin "stavn" Lund (Heroic/Astralis)
10.  Helvijs "broky" Saukants (FaZe)
11.  Nicolai "device" Reedtz (Astralis)
12.  David "frozen" Čerňanský (MOUZ/FaZe)
13.  Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač (G2)
14.  Guy "NertZ" Iluz (Endpoint/ENCE/Heroic)
15.  Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard (Heroic/Astralis)
16.  Benjamin "blameF" Bremer (Astralis)
17.  Emil "Magisk" Reif (Vitality/Falcons)
18.  Casper "cadiaN" Møller (Heroic/Liquid)
19.  Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato (FURIA)
20.  Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken (FaZe/Liquid)