NiKo

For other uses, see Niko (disambiguation).

NiKo
NiKo in 2020
Current team
TeamTeam Falcons
RoleRifler
GamesCounter-Strike 2
Personal information
NameNikola Kovač
Born (1997-02-16) February 16, 1997 (age 27)[1]
Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina[1]
Career information
Playing career2015–present
RoleRifler, Secondary AWPer
Team history
2012–2013; 2015iNation
2015–2017mousesports
2017–2020FaZe Clan
2020–2025G2 Esports
2025–presentTeam Falcons
Career highlights and awards

Nikola Kovač, better known as NiKo, is a Bosnian professional Counter-Strike 2 player who plays for Team Falcons. NiKo is often cited by many professionals and analysts alike as one of the greatest Counter-Strike players of all time and the best rifler in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[2][3] He has been named a Top 20 Player Of The Year by HLTV eight times, tying dev1ce for the 2nd for most top 20 player appearances in Global Offensive history.[4] NiKo is widely considered as one of the most mechanically skilled players in Counter-Strike and has been in contention for the title of the best player in the world at multiple periods throughout his career.

Early life

Nikola Kovač was born in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.[5] His parents were owners of an internet café where Nikola would play the earlier Counter Strike games with his cousin Nemanja aka "huNter-".[6][5]

Career

2011

NiKo began his playing career on Counter-Strike 1.6. His first professional team was FullProof. Other teams he played for included eu4ia, neWave, maksnet and DEFUSE.maksnet.

2012–2014

His first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team was iNation. He shuffled through myDGB, e-Sports.rs, Team Refuse, GamePub and aimface while taking breaks from iNation.

2015

His impressive performance with iNation gained him notoriety throughout Europe. He would be signed by mousesports in March 2015. That led to a sensational rookie run where his team was often dubbed "Nikosports" due to his amazing individual performances, with one of them being his desert eagle ace on Cache.[7]

2016

NiKo stayed on mousesports for the entirety of 2016. During this time they won Acer Predator Masters Season 2 and were ranked 3-4th in ELEAGUE Season 1, ESL One: New York 2016 European Qualifier, ESL Pro League Season 4 - Europe and ESL Pro League Season 4 - Finals.

2017

In February 2017, NiKo was acquired by FaZe Clan as they formed a star-player team. Kovač's first big tournament win was at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, followed by a winless period of five months with a near miss at Esports Championship Series Season 3. Following a re-shuffle of the FaZe roster, bringing in the two best players of 2015; Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson and Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács,[8][9] FaZe was rejuvenated and managed back-to-back flawless victories at ESL One: New York 2017 and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017. Following this, the team went two months without a win before taking the Esports Championship Series Season 4 trophy over mousesports at the end of the year. He was ranked in #2 in the year end HLTV top 20 and had a rivalry with SK Gaming's coldzera throughout the year.

2018

Falling just short in ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, the first Major of 2018, to home region team Cloud9,[10] FaZe entered another lull, this time with Richard "Xizt" Landström standing in for olofmeister, until they managed to take home Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Sydney, and shortly after, managing to win ESL One: Belo Horizonte 2018 at the beginning of the summer with Jørgen "cromen" Robertsen as a stand-in. In October 2018, FaZe came first place in the EPICENTER 2018 event in Moscow, Russia, making this his seventh first-place victory at a premier event with FaZe Clan. He was ranked No. 3 at the HLTV top 20, having been in contention for the title of best player of the year for the at the beginning but exited the race after his form cooled in the 2nd half.[11]

2019

FaZe went through a number of in-game leaders (IGLs) during this time after the removal of karrigan last year, before settling on NiKo. By the end of 2019 Faze's trophy count had gone up to ten as they won BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, but didn't finish top 4 at either major. Statistically, this was the worst year of NiKo's career thus far as he had to settle for 11th place on the HLTV top 20 list as a result of his IGL duties and he finished outside of the top 10 for the first time since 2016 in the HLTV top 20.

2020

2020 marked another victory for FaZe and now IGL Kovač, as they won the European division of IEM New York 2020 Online over OG.[12] On October 28, 2020, after a three-and-a-half-year venture with FaZe Clan, Kovač was acquired by G2 Esports and was united with his cousin huNter.[13]

No longer an IGL, NiKo was back in his old form again this year and was ranked No. 4 in HLTV top 20.

2021

NiKo led G2 to the grand finals of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 but lost to a dominant Na'Vi team. They had also been runner-up to the same Na'Vi team at Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Cologne earlier in the year. He went through a career best run in the second half of 2021 with CSGO's return to LAN, posting a consecutive 34 map 1+ rating streak, the highest of his career and of any top 20 players that year. He finished third in the HLTV top 20, behind ZywOo and S1mple.[14]

2022

2022 started out strong for G2 and Niko finishing 2nd place at IEM Katowice,[15] but things turned for the worse with many losses with the only other top 4 result being at Blast Premier Spring Finals.[16] G2 did not qualify for the IEM Rio Major,[17] with Niko commenting that these times are his toughest months of his career but reassured that he will never give up.[18] NiKo and G2 bounced back and won the Blast Premier World Final 2022.[19] He finished 5th in the HLTV Top 20.[20]

2023

On 12 February 2023, G2 won IEM Katowice 2023 undefeated, only suffering a loss on a single map to the hands of Heroic in the grand finals. This was NiKo's 1st time winning IEM Katowice and his 4th Katowice finals, having made it to the finals in 2017, 2018, and 2022, but lost all 3 finals.

NiKo and G2 qualified for the 2023 Blast.tv Paris Major 2023 through the RMR into the Challengers stage, where they would qualify for Legends stage following a 3-0 run in the Challengers Stage. NiKo and G2 would go on to be eliminated in the Legends stage by Fnatic in a 1-2 elimination game, thus ensuring NiKo would never win a CSGO major.

G2 became the champions of IEM Cologne 2023, where NiKo earned his eighth MVP award.[21]

NiKo's exceptional numbers at the biggest events and against the best teams see him tie his best placement on HLTV's Top 20 Players of the Year list, placing 2nd, only behind ZywOo.[22]

2024

2024 began rough for NiKo, who suffered a dip in form compared to his CS:GO performance, averaging a 1.15 rating in the first half of the season in contrast to his usual 1.2+ performances[23]. However, NiKo exhibited more sublime form in the latter half of the season, which earned him the 4th place on HLTV's Top 20 Players of the Year list after another year of overall strong individual play. NiKo also sets a new record for most consecutive appearances in the top 20 with 9 consecutive appearances.[24]

2025

On 3 January 2025, NiKo would leave G2, having spent 2024 finishing in the top 4 of the PGL Copenhagen and Perfect World Shanghai Majors and winning IEM Dallas (with a stand-in Stewie2K), BLAST Premier Fall Final and BLAST Premier World Final. That same day, he signed with Saudi organization Team Falcons, as part of their rebuild to form a star-studded team.[25]

Awards and recognition

  • Was voted the 11th best player of 2016 by HLTV.[26]
  • Was voted the 2nd best player of 2017 by HLTV.[27]
  • Was voted the 3rd best player of 2018 by HLTV.[28]
  • Was voted the 11th best player of 2019 by HLTV.[26]
  • Was voted the 4th best player of 2020 by HLTV.[29]
  • Was voted the 3rd best player of 2021 by HLTV.[30]
  • Was voted the 5th best player of 2022 by HLTV.[20]
  • Was voted the 2nd best player of 2023 by HLTV.[31]
  • Was voted the 4th best player of 2024 by HLTV.[32]
  • Was voted the MVP of 8 different tournaments.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b "NiKo - Age, Height, Net Worth, Family Status and Full BIO - eSports Marketing".
  2. ^ "Who Is CS:GO's Greatest-Ever Player?". 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Nikola "NiKo" Kovač - One of the greatest CS:GO players | Pley.gg". pley.gg. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Who is CS:GO's greatest-ever player?". 11 October 2023.
  5. ^ a b "NiKo - Age, Height, Net Worth, Family Status and Full BIO - eSports Marketing". esports-marketing-blog.com. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Articles about games in Esports ≺ Dota2 & CS:GO ≻ All about eSports games". Wewatch.gg. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  7. ^ "mousesports pick up NiKo". HLTV. Retrieved 17 February 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Olofmeister joins FaZe, replaces kioShiMa". HLTV.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^ "GuardiaN replaces allu in FaZe". HLTV.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Cloud9 beat FaZe to win ELEAGUE Major Boston". HLTV.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ ""Top 20 players of 2018: NiKo (3)"". HLTV.org. 19 January 2019.
  12. ^ Cooney, Bill (11 October 2020). "FaZe Clan wins IEM New York EU: Results & final placements". Dexerto. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  13. ^ Sillis, Ben (11 May 2020). "Gaming squad goals: superstar NiKo signs to G2 Esports". Red Bull. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction". HLTV.org. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  15. ^ "FaZe sweep G2 to win IEM Katowice". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Vitality defeat G2 to claim grand final spot in Lisbon". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  17. ^ "G2 eliminated from RMR, fnatic keep Major dream alive". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  18. ^ "This will probably be the 2 toughest months in my career, you can hate all you want, it's well deserved. But you won't see me give up. That I can promise". Twitter. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  19. ^ "G2 sweep Liquid to claim BLAST Premier World Final title". HLTV.org. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  20. ^ a b "Top 20 players of 2022: NiKo (5)". HLTV. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  21. ^ "NiKo named MVP of IEM Cologne". HLTV. 6 August 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  22. ^ "TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2023: NIKO (2)". HLTV.org. 14 January 2024.
  23. ^ "NiKo on not becoming IGL: "I believed I could still be one of the best players in the world"". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  24. ^ "Top 20 players of 2024: NiKo (4)". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  25. ^ Richards, Harry (3 January 2025). "Official: Falcons announce NiKo". HLTV.org. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  26. ^ a b Švejda, Milan. "Top 20 players of 2019: NiKo (11)". HLTV. Retrieved 3 August 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Top 20 players of 2017: NiKo (2)". HLTV. Retrieved 3 August 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  28. ^ "Top 20 players of 2018: NiKo (3)". HLTV. Retrieved 21 January 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  29. ^ "Top 20 players of 2020: NiKo (4)". HLTV. Retrieved 2 February 2021.[permanent dead link‍]
  30. ^ "Top 20 players of 2021: NiKo (3)". HLTV. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  31. ^ "TOP 20 PLAYERS OF 2023: NIKO (2)". HLTV.org. 14 January 2024.
  32. ^ "Top 20 players of 2024: NiKo (4)". HLTV.org. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  33. ^ "Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač's CS:GO Player Profile". HLTV.[permanent dead link‍]

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