Virtus.pro (VP) is an international

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

organization founded in 2003 in Russia and acquired by Armenian investors in 2022. The organization has players competing in such games as ''

Counter-Strike 2 ''Counter-Strike 2'' is a 2023 free-to-play Tactical shooter, tactical first-person shooter video game, game developed and published by Valve Corporation, Valve. It is the fifth entry in the ''Counter-Strike'' series, developed as an updated v ...

'', ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...

'', ''

Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is a 2015 tactical shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control o ...

'', ''

Warface ''Warface: Clutch'' (formerly known as ''Warface'') is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek Kiev, co-produced by Crytek Seoul, and published by My.com. The full version of the game was released on 21 October ...

'' and EFT: Arena. Virtus.pro's ''Dota 2'' team has participated in multiple Majors, winning record (tied with

Team Secret Team Secret is an esports team based in Europe formed in 2014, best known for their ''Dota 2'' team. In March 2016, Team Secret picked up an international female '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' team. In April 2016, Team Secret expanded int ...

) 5 of them and becoming the best Dota Pro Circuit first season team. Their ''League of Legends'' team won LCL Spring 2017. VP's former Polish ''CS:GO'' team is considered one of the best teams in the history of ''Counter-Strike'', winning the

EMS One Katowice 2014 Electronic Sports League Major Series One Katowice 2014, also known as EMS One Katowice 2014, was the second ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, Major Championship. The tournament was held f ...

Major and several other premier tournaments. VP's 2022 ''CS:GO'' team, with CIS players, won the

IEM Rio Major 2022 The Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Rio Major 2022, also known as IEM Rio Major 2022 or Rio 2022, was the eighteenth '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between October 31 and N ...

under the name Outsiders. VP are also members of the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program, funded by

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Public Investment Fund The Public Investment Fund (PIF; ) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on be ...

Ownership and naming

In November 2015, the team got an investment of over US$100,000,000 from

Alisher Usmanov Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (, ; born 9 September 1953) is a Russian-Uzbek oligarch. He is sanctioned by the US, EU, UK, and Ukrainian governments. By March 2025, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $16.7 billion and was ranked number 124 a ...

USM Holdings Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (, ; born 9 September 1953) is a Russian-Uzbek oligarch. He is sanctioned by the US, EU, UK, and Ukrainian governments. By March 2025, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $16.7 billion and was ranked number 124 a ...

. From 2015 to 2022 Virtus.pro was part of the ESforce Holding (and also part of VK). In March 2022 Virtus.pro created a new tag, Outsiders, due to the requirements of tournament operators and their claims to VP's parent company (VK) ties with the Russian government. Outsiders tag is a neutral name for the team. In September 2022 Virtus.pro announced the acquisition of the club by Armenian investor Aram Karamanukyan. He became the new CEO of the club. Since then, in ''Dota 2'' and other games, the club has been playing under its genuine name Virtus.pro, but continued to play in CS:GO as Outsiders. The new CEO claimed that he "contacted ESL S:GO tournament operatorto discuss the matter of performing under the name Virtus.pro" and "provided all supporting documents and are now awaiting a decision." On 22 March 2023, CS:GO tournament organizers lifted their bans on the Virtus.pro name.

Current divisions

''Counter-Strike''

History

On 25 January 2014, Virtus.pro signed the five member roster of AGAiN, , Janusz "

Snax Paul Bonomo (born November 9, 1969), better known as Snax, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, performer and DJ from the Washington, D.C. area. He is currently based in Berlin, Germany. Snax became well known as a member of ...

" Pogorzelski, , and Golden Five players

Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

, Filip "Neo" Kubski. Virtus.pro won

by beating

Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas (often abbreviated to NIP and NiP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its '' Counter-Strike'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upo ...

in the finals. The team then got 5–8 at

ESL One Cologne 2014 Electronic Sports League One Cologne 2014, also known as ESL One Cologne 2014, was the third '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship. The tournament was held during Gamescom 2014 from August 14–17, 2014 at the Cologne Exhibiti ...

. Virtus.pro won at ESEA in April 2015. The team then beat

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere (Latin for "born to win"), commonly referred as abbreviated name NAVI (formerly Na`Vi), is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as ...

to win CEVO Season 7 in July 2014. In October 2015, it was announced that Virtus.pro had joined an esports team

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

along with a dozen other teams. In 2016, Virtus.pro made it to the quarterfinals in MLG Columbus after beating G2 Esports 2–0 in a best-of-three game. The team then went on to win in the inaugural

ELeague ''ELeague'', shortened as ''EL'', and stylized as ''Ξ''LEAGUE, is an esports league and American television program that airs on TBS. It was announced in September 2015 as a partnership between Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG ...

season, winning $390,000. In December 2016, Virtus.pro re-signed the roster for another four years. In 2017, Virtus.pro finishes 2nd place at the ELEAGUE Atlanta major, winning $150k, and won DreamHack Masters - Las Vegas 2017, winning $200k. Virtus.pro finished 2nd place at EPICENTER 2017, winning $100k. Due to poor results, on 13 December 2018, Virtus.pro ''CS:GO'' roster was suspended. "Vegi" replaced "Toao" in the active squad and "

" takes over IGL role in 2019. Due to poor results and grown unhappy with the team, Paweł "byali" Bieliński decided to leave Virtus.pro. VP adds Okoliciouz as a replacement for byali. Virtus.pro decided to test some players out, benching Michał "Okoliciouz" Głowaty that had a short lived place in the VP squad, replaced by a stand in Tomasz "phr" Wójcik. Virtus.pro win Polish Esport League Spring in 2019, earning $10,708. This event was the first 1st-place finish since Adrenaline Cyber League 2017, which was won by the original roster. In December 2019, Virtus.pro announced that they have completed the signing of the AVANGAR roster, benching the Polish roster. In May 2020, Virtus.pro acquired "YEKINDAR" from pro100 as "buster" steps down from the starting lineup. Additionally, "Flatra" joined as an assistant coach. The roster competed under the name Outsiders from early March 2022, following several tournament organizers banning esports teams suspected to have ties to the Russian government. Under the Outsiders tag the team won

, beating Heroic in the final. On 22 March 2023, tournament organizers

ESL English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

and

BLAST Blast or The Blast may refer to: *Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner *Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front *A planned explosion in a mine, ...

lifted the ban on Virtus.pro. On 17 December 2023, Virtus.pro defeated Apeks at

Challenger Atlanta 2023, where Pyotr "fame" Bolyshev was awarded his first ever

HLTV HLTV, formerly an initialism of Half-Life Television, is a news website and forum which covers professional ''Counter-Strike 2'' esports news, tournaments and statistics. It is one of the leading websites within the ''Counter-Strike'' communit ...

MVP award. Their victory at the event qualified the roster for ESL Pro League Season 19. On 14 April 2024, Virtus.pro announced the signing of previous

and

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

player Denis "electroNic" Sharipov.

Roster

''Dota 2''

History

Virtus.pro attended

The International 2014 The International 2014 (TI4) was the fourth edition of The International, an annual esports ''Dota 2'' championship tournament, which took place at the KeyArena in Seattle. Hosted by Valve, the tournament began on July 8 with the Playoffs phase ...

and placed 5th-6th at

The International 2015 The International 2015 (TI5) was the fifth edition of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports championship tournament, which took place at the KeyArena in Seattle. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began in May with ...

. Virtus.pro released its squad after failing to qualify for

The International 2016 The International 2016 (TI6) was the sixth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports championship tournament. Hosted by Valve Corporation, the game's developer, the tournament began in June 2016 with the qualifier phase and e ...

, but reformed shortly after. In November 2016, the team won The Summit 6

LAN Lan or LAN may refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space * ...

event, sweeping OG 3–0 in a best-of-five series. Virtus.pro placed 5th-6th at

The International 2017 The International 2017 (TI7) was the seventh iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' esports world championship tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament began with the online qualifier phase in June 2017, a ...

. Virtus.pro wins ESL One Hamburg 2017, the first major of the 2017-2018 Dota Pro Circuit season. In 2018, Virtus.pro won four majors, winning ESL One Katowice 2018, The Bucharest Major and ESL One Birmingham 2018; they also became the first team to win two ESL One majors back-to-back. In the new season of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season, they became the winner of the first major of the season, the Kuala Lumpur Major. Despite being second place on 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season and one of the favorites to win

The International 2019 The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual ''Dota 2'' world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying poin ...

, Virtus.pro got knocked out of the tournament by

Royal Never Give Up Royal Never Give Up (RNG) is a Chinese esports organization. It began as a professional ''League of Legends'' team named Royal Club competing in the ''League of Legends'' Pro League (LPL), the game's top level of competition in China. To refle ...

, ending their journey with a 9th-12th place. After the disappointing run, the roster was rebuilt, with Ramzes and 9pasha left the team after staying with the team for almost three years. Austin «Cap» Walsh commented that the team's previous roster was unsalvageable because of bad results at every The International they've ever played: «If you've played this many TIs and can't even get close to the finals, there's obviously something wrong». On 1 April 2020, Virtus.pro announced its second Dota 2 lineup: VP.Prodigy. On 17 May 2020, VP.Prodigy's youth squad defeated Virtus.pro to win the Epic Prime League. In July 2020, Virtus.pro, the Russian cybersporting organization, ranked among the top 3 in Europe and the CIS in terms of prize money, percentage of wins and tournament placements during the quarantine period. On 5 November, a new roster is announced consisting of the current VP.Prodigy's roster, leading to impressive results in the Dota Pro Circuit regional leagues in 2021. Following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Virtus.pro roster played under the 'Outsiders' temporary tag to avoid

's ban on Russian esports organisations. During a qualifying match leading up to ESL One Stockholm Major, player Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko drew a Z sign on the minimap, which was widely interpreted as expressing support for Russian invasion of Ukraine, a claim which Moskalenko later denied. In response, Virtus.pro terminated its contract with Moskalenko, while tournament organisers, Beyond the Summit, in consultation with

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

, disqualified the team from the competition, issuing a retroactive forfeit for every match the team played. On 3 May 2023, the Virtus.pro cybersports organization announced that Sergey "G" Bragin has returned to the club as a Dota 2 lineup coach. Timur "Ahilles" Kulmukhambetov will shift to the position of lineup analyst instead of the coaching position.

Roster

''Rainbow Six Siege''

On 16 May 2020, Virtus.pro enters the Rainbow Six scene by acquiring the roster of forZe Esports.

Roster

''Warface''

Virtus.pro signed a Warface roster on 14 July 2022.

Roster

''EFT: Arena''

Virtus.pro launched a EFT: Arena roster on 5 December 2023. The team finished second in the first-ever EFT: Arena tournament, DreamHack Hannover.

''PUBG''

Virtus.pro launched their ''

PUBG ''PUBG: Battlegrounds'' (previously known as ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'') is a 2017 battle royale video game published by Krafton, and developed by Krafton's PUBG Studios. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film '' Battle Ro ...

'' division in 2020 by signing Northern Lights Team's roster. The squad dominated in Europe and secured several high placing in top-tier international events, including top-3 at PGC 2021. That roster was disbanded in 2022. In 2024, Virtus.pro returned to PUBG with a new team.

''PUBG Mobile''

Virtus.pro entered ''

PUBG Mobile ''PUBG Mobile'' is a free-to-play battle royale video game co-developed by LightSpeed Studios, LightSpeed & Quantum Studio and PUBG Studios. It is a mobile game adaptation of ''PUBG: Battlegrounds''. It was initially released for Android (opera ...

'' in 2021.

''Standoff 2''

In March 2024, Virtus.pro signed a roster in the mobile game '' FPS Standoff 2''.

''EA Sports FC''

VP have a roster in ''

EA Sports FC ''EA Sports FC'' is a football video game franchise developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. It serves as the direct successor to their former ''FIFA'' series, which was discontinued following the termination of EA ...

''. In 2024, the club signed 2 players: Robert "Ufenok77" Fakhretdinov and Daniil "Abel" Abeldyaev. Ufenok left the club in September, with Abel staying as a club's single player in EA Sports FC. In January 2025, VP signed a popular YouTube content creator and a former competitive player Anton "klenoff" Klenov as a coach.

Rennsport

Virtus.pro launched a division in simracing in May 2024 by signing a team of pilots to compete in ESL R1, the official sim racing league of Rennsport. This acquisition may have been funded thanks to the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program, of which VP is a member.

''Apex Legends''

Virtus.pro first ventured into ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...

'' in 2019 by signing the FlavorOfTheMonth roster. It was disbanded in 2020. In 2024, the club came back with a new roster.

''Honor of Kings''

Virtus.pro signed a roster in mobile MOBA ''

Honor of Kings ''Honor of Kings'' (, unofficially translated as "King's Glory", or alternatively transliterated as Wangzhe Rongyao) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Tencent Games for iOS, ...

'' in 2024.

Overwatch 2

Virtus.pro signed a roster in Overwatch 2 in 2024, prior to EWC.

World of Tanks

Virtus.pro signed their first roster in WoT in July 2012. The squad was disbanded in 2015. In 2024, Virtus.pro returned with a new roster.

CoD: Warzone

VP laucned a roster in CoD: Warzone in December 2024.

Deadlock

VP signed a roster in Deadlock in February 2025. The squad consists of players from the Buff Enjoyers roster.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Virtus.pro have two rosters in MLBB: a men's and a women's teams, signed in February
2025

Marvel Rivals

VP signed a roster for Marvel Rivals on February 19, 2025.

Former divisions

''Fortnite''

On 19 July 2018, Virtus.pro opened a division of ''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...

'', the first players in the new discipline were Arthur "7ssk7" Kurshin and Jamal "Jamside" Saydayev. On 21 September 2018, Dmitry "HURMA" Heins and Seid-Magomed "FiveSkill" Edilgireev joined the organization. On 16 October 2019, "FiveSkill" and "HURMA" leave the team. On 29 April 2021, VP announced their decision to temporarily leave the discipline.

''Starcraft 2''

Virtus.pro signed their first SC II roster in 2011. On 1 July 2014, Virtus.pro announced that they closed the

StarCraft II ''StarCraft II'' is a real-time strategy video game created by Blizzard Entertainment, first released in 2010. A sequel to the successful '' StarCraft'', released in 1998, it is set in a militaristic far future. The narrative centers on a galacti ...

section of their organization and that they would now focus on

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

instead. In May 2024 VP have returned to this title, signing the highest ranked American athlete Maxwell "Astrea" Angel, who left the team in September.

''League of Legends''

On 28 June 2014, Virtus.pro acquired the roster of Dragon Team. Soon the team disbands, but in November 2016 Virtus.pro re-opened its LoL division and acquired the LCL Spot of Vaevictis Syndicate. On 19 September 2017, the organization closed its League of Legends department.

''Artifact''

21 June 2018, long before the official release of the game, Virtus.pro announced its first player in the discipline, a former

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...

player Maria "Harleen" Kobzar. On 23 November 2018, Artem "DrHippi" Kravets, who previously defended the colors of Virtus.pro in Hearthstone, and Olzhas "Naiman" Batyrbekov joined the team. 29 November 2018 Artifact was released on sale. 27 February 2019 "DrHippi" and "Harleen" left the team. On 10 September "Naiman" retires and Virtus.pro leaves Artifact.

References

External links

Official website
{{Navboxes , title = Divisions , list1 = {{Apex Legends {{Professional Counter-Strike competition {{Professional Dota 2 competition {{Professional Heroes of the Storm competition 2003 establishments in Russia Apex Legends teams Counter-Strike teams Dota teams Esports teams based in Russia Esports teams established in 2003 Heroes of the Storm teams Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege teams Marvel Rivals teams