Two Macedonian players are among those eligible for HLTV's 2026 Rookie of the Year award: Jordan "stressarN" Manevski of SINNERS and Matej "NucleonZ" Trajkoski of Falcons Force B.
stressarN, 23, has played 86 maps over the past three months with a Rating 3.0 of 1.18. Trajkoski, 18, has played 63 maps with a rating of 1.05.
The criteria have been simplified to four metrics, using data from 31 December 2025. A player must have fewer than 60 maps against top 20 opposition, fewer than 30 such maps on LAN, fewer than 10 maps in Big Event playoffs and no maps in Major playoffs. Age is irrelevant to rookie status.
HLTV decides the award internally, using the same criteria as its Top 20 Players of the Year list. The highest-placed rookie on that list always wins, as happened with molodoy, donk, NertZ and m0NESY. The 2026 award will be presented by ATK Gear, with the awards show set for January.
The race remains wide open with two months left to play. Vladislav "xiELO" Lysov of PARIVISION has played the most maps among rookies at notable events, followed by Džiugas "dziugss" Steponavičius and Dmytro "dem0n" Myroshnychenko of FUT. Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov is the only rookie MVP this year, from PGL Bucharest.
