The 10 best esports players in France

Who are the best French esports players? With Team Vitality winning the Counter-Strike Majors and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweeping the 2025 Game Awards, France has been at the center of the gaming world this year. With a community that fiercely supports its teams and that rallies behind charity marathons, a cast of good French pro players is sure to follow. Across all games, who are the 10 best esports players in France?

10. Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert – League of Legends (Karmine Corp)

Caliste is the ADC for Karmine Corp and the fan favorite of the French League of Legends community. After two years of strong results in tier 2, he debuted in the League of Legends EMEA Championship in 2025. Immediately, his team went on to win the split and come second at the next international tournament.

Since then, KC has failed to cross the finish line, but Caliste has been a star player of the team. Caliste mains Draven and expertly plays on the edge of danger, only occasionally failing to temper his aggression. The marksman is a new name in the scene, but one that shows his impact and is only improving from there.

Caliste at the 2025 First Stand tournament,# *Image Source: Moon Suwon / Riot Games)

9. Emre “Double61” Demirtas – Teamfight Tactics (Karmine Corp)

Double61 is the first ever Teamfight Tactics World champion. Emre won the Galaxies Championship in 2020 while he was only 16. Since then, despite never claiming a second title of that caliber, he’s remained a major threat in many tournaments.

Most recently, Double finished in the top 50 at the TFT Open in Paris, in December 2025. Double has claimed a total of over $200,000 in prize winnings, and has played for Karmine Corp his whole career.

8. Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan – League of Legends (G2 Esports)

SkewMond is the jungler for G2 Esports. Like Caliste, he had two very solid years in tier 2 before moving to the LEC in 2025. In his rookie year, he came in second place in the LEC twice before winning in the Summer. At Worlds, G2 redeemed Europe by reaching quarterfinals.

In just one year, G2’s jungler left an impact on the competitive scene that went beyond his results alone. SkewMond inspired the East to pick Dr. Mundo at the 2025 Worlds, and the champion went on to have a 100% win rate at the tournament.

With G2’s consistent domination of Europe and the team staying together for 2026, SkewMond is sure to remain at the top next year.

7. Jean-Emmanuel “JiRock” Depraz – Magic: The Gathering

JiRock is both an MTG World Champion and World Cup champion. Discovering the game in 2005, he first qualified to the Pro Tour in 2014. In 2018, he won the World Cup as the captain of the French team. In 2023, JiRock finally won the World Championship. As a reward, he got to design a card that will be released in January 2026.

Jean-Emmanuel still plays and streams MTG actively.

6. Stéphane “Shaiiko” Lebleu – Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Team Falcons)

Shaiiko is an Entry fragger in Rainbow Six Siege and a Major Champion. Currently playing for Team Falcons, his previous teams were Aera eSport, beGenius ESC, and Team BDS.

Beginning his career in 2017, he was banned a few months later for using macros. In 2019, his ban was lifted, and he went on to win four S-Tier tournaments and place second in another four.

Shaiiko getting ready to enter the stage (Image Source: Shaiiko)

5. Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez – Call of Duty (LA Thieves)

HyDra is a Call of Duty player and another one of the World Champions on this list. Debuting in 2016, he’s played for 10 different teams, although he spent most of his career on NY Subliners / Cloud9.

HyDra won the 2023 Call of Duty League Championship with NY Subliners, claiming a $1,000,000 prize. Paco was also the 2023 season MVP, and has kept having consistent great results from 2022 to 2025.

4. William “Glutonny” Belaid – Super Smash Bros. (Solary)

Glutonny is a Smash player who debuted with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2009, at age 13, now playing for Solary. William has mained Wario since the beginning, and is regarded as the best Wario player in history. In a game series where Europe struggles to reach the top, Glutonny regularly wins major international events.

The Wario main is ranked as the 13th best player in the world on LumiRank. However, his own results weren’t enough for him, so he opened the Glutonny Academy in 2020 to train younger talents and help develop the French scene.

3. Steven “Hans Sama” Liv – League of Legends (G2 Esports)

In League of Legends, the biggest French names (like s0AZ or Yell0wStaR) are retired. The new generation is only now rising, and the other names on this list don’t have a lasting legacy yet.

Hans Sama is the exception. A marksman since his debut in 2014, Hans Sama joined the LEC in 2017 by promoting with Misfits Gaming. Immediately, he made Worlds quarters and almost achieved the biggest upset to date, narrowly losing to SKT.

Hans Sama played for Misfits until 2019, before joining Rogue for two years. Afterwards, he spent a year with Team Liquid in NA in 2022, and has since then been G2’s ADC.

Hans Sama has won the LEC 7 times, and played at 9 premier internationals.

2. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire – Counter-Strike (Team Vitality)

apEX is a Counter-Strike player whose history and achievements are downright absurd. Dan started playing in 2009 with Counter-Strike: Source, and has been playing ever since. The player has been on 19 teams over the duration of his career. In 2018, he joined Team Vitality and is still playing for them today.

apEX started off as an entry fragger and was famous for being a highly aggressive player. In 2020, he swapped to in-game leader after ALEX left the role vacant by leaving Vitality.

Dan is the most decorated player in Counter-Strike Global Offensive and Counter-Strike 2, and the first place on this list is a toss-up between him and his teammate. The in-game leader has won more than 30 S-Tier tournaments. Most recently, he’s won both Majors of 2025, and became the oldest player to win one, at age 32.

Vitality’s win at the Major (Image Source: StarLadder)

1. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – Counter-Strike (Team Vitality)

Team Vitality has achieved too much in Counter-Strike to list it all under one player’s presentation. Luckily, there’s two of them on the list.

ZywOo joined Vitality in 2018 at the same time as apEX, and he’s the AWPer of the team. Mathieu “only” began playing in 2014, and has as such only been part of 6 different teams. However, his impact has been no weaker. Ever since joining VIT, Mathieu has been considered as one of the best CS2 players in the world.

HLTV named ZywOo best player of 2019, 2020, and 2023, and runner-up in 2021 and 2022. In 2024, he was the 3rd best player; and in 2025, the “Esports PC Player of the Year”. Where apEX holds all the records in terms of events won, ZywOo has the most MVP titles in the game.

Fielding the two best French players across all Esports titles, Team Vitality dominates the Counter-Strike scene.

Featured Image Source: StarLadder

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