HLTV's CS GO Team Ranking is an authoritative metric for assessing the current standing of the competitive scene. First introduced in 2015, the ranking system has become the main way to assess the level of teams.

Despite the fact that the ranking is based on criteria compiled by HLTV's editors, it is trusted by the professional community and championship organisers. It can be used to assess the chances of teams in individual CSGO tournaments, as well as to analyse the favourites for particular matches.

The scoring criteria used

The HLTV ranking of the teams is based on objective indicators, which evaluate not only the current form of all the clubs in the standings, but also the long-term factors.

The following parameters form the basis of the ranking system:

• Teams' most recent results over a period of two months.
• Performance statistics of the last ten LAN-events.
• Changes in the line-up of the teams. The team has to keep its core of 3 players to keep the points.
• Number of tournaments won over the last year.

The system is structured in such a way that the leader cannot win more than 1,000 points. However, the upper limit is not a sufficient criterion for reaching the top line as the better team may have less points under its belt based on the current state of competition.

Principles of HLTV's team ranking

The HLTV ranking is updated every Monday and the teams are promoted up or down based on their latest results, respecting all the evaluation criteria. The teams may have the same number of points, but these situations occur at the bottom of the ranking or in the regional rankings.

Teams gain points by competing in tournaments. Depending on the prestige of the championship, the system gives different amount of points to the competitors, additionally based on their results. CS:GO matches, which have a strong value for the ranking, are marked with additional "stars" on the portal itself. Thus, the spectators can see which encounter will have an influence on the ranking of their favourite team the following week.

Despite the considerable influence of the LAN-tournaments, the online championships also have an influence on the movement of the teams in the ranking. However, the achievements in the online tournaments are evaluated by a lower coefficient, which levels out the differences in the class of participants in these tournaments.

Thus the ranking of the top teams by HLTV is an objective criterion for evaluating the latest results of the representatives of the competition scene. Based on the data, many tournament operators determine the invited participants and also assign the seeding. Furthermore, the ranking can influence the order of the teams when the cards are selected.

Also a high ranking has an influence on the bookmakers' quotations. The higher the team is in the rankings, the lower the odds of winning the match and vice versa. As a result, the current ranking system of the teams allows you to determine the level of the competitors and assess their prospects.

The points system works in a similar way. The higher the ranking of a team, the more points it will lose for a defeat against a lower ranked opponent, and vice versa.

Thus, the HLTV ranking of teams is one of the leading systems for evaluating the representatives of the competitive scene. It is used to determine the prospects of the clubs, while the organisers rely on the location of the competitors for the championships.