Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a game that requires the gamer to make lightning-fast decisions and react quickly, which is why older CS:GO players are a rather rare phenomenon, especially at the top level.
No scientific study has yet been conducted to determine the most optimal age specifically for CS:GO. However, a study on the game StarCraft was conducted by Simon Fraser University in Canada in 2014. Scientists found that the highest reaction speed in humans is at the age of 24, and the ability to think quickly and make decisions peaks between the ages of 20 and 25. The researchers’ final conclusion was harsh: after the age of 30, players cannot compete with younger individuals.
The oldest CS:GO pro players in the top 100 are:
karrigan (real name – Finn Andersen, from Denmark). He is 34 years old, plays for FaZe. Ranked 44th in the world.
Snappi (Marco Pfeiffer from Denmark). He is 33 years old, plays for Team Falcons. Currently ranked 18th in the world.
FalleN (Gabriel Toledo, citizenship – Brazil), 33 years old, played for FURIA until the end of 2024. Currently retired. Last ranking position – 66th.
FalleN
Gabriel Toledo from Brazil takes third place in the list of oldest CS:GO players. The uniqueness of Gabriel’s talent is that in Counter-Strike, the AWP sniper rarely takes on the role of in-game leader, but he managed this with ease. For his age of 33, FalleN shows decent results, but it must be admitted that his golden years are already behind him.
By the best period in his career, we mean 2015–2016, when Gabriel won 2 majors in Columbus and Cologne, rose to 2nd place in the world ranking, and received the “Sniper of the Year” and “In-Game Leader of the Year” awards. Throughout his career, FalleN has earned approximately $1.2 million in prize money.
To become a good sniper, FalleN advises beginners to dedicate time to flick training (shooting while turning or mid-turn), learn to use the element of surprise to their advantage, and avoid making mistakes in choosing positions.
Snappi
Second place in the list of older CS:GO players goes to Marco Pfeiffer from Denmark.
Snappi’s performance at the age of 33 is impressive. Among pro gamers aged 30+, he holds the highest position in the world ranking – 18th.
In his current team, Team Falcons, he is the in-game leader and entry fragger, i.e., the main player tasked with securing the first kill (landing the first frag).
Marco is a rare example of a player who performs consistently but has never won a major. I believe the main reason is frequent team changes. From 2013 to 2022, Snappi changed teams 18 times, averaging one team every six months. Naturally, it’s impossible to build maximum synergy with teammates in such a short time, so we see rather modest achievements for a player of his level and equally modest prize money earned from professional gaming – about $230,000.
Did You Know?
Before moving on to the main character and number 1 in our list, let’s entertain ourselves with a few interesting facts:
Among the world’s top 100 players, the most older CS:GO pros come from Denmark, France, and Brazil.
Gamers from the CIS – are considered young by CS standards. The oldest professional player from this region is Hobbit aka Wild Kazakh (Abay Khassenov from Kazakhstan), aged 30, currently ranked 37th in the world. I believe the reason why there are no top-tier players over 30 from the CIS is high competition. That same Hobbit had to put in a lot of effort to essentially revive his career in 2021 after a three-year slump and return to the top CS:GO scene.
The oldest CS:GO pro player to date is 38-year-old TaZ (real name – Wiktor Wojtas) from Poland. Undoubtedly, he can no longer compete on equal footing with the younger guys, but his authority among gamers is incredibly high. How could it be otherwise, when TaZ was winning majors – of which he has 8 in his collection, by the way – while today’s CS:GO stars were literally attending kindergarten.
Karrigan
Now we come to the oldest professional CS:GO player. His name is Finn Andersen from Denmark, and he plays Counter-Strike under the nickname karrigan for the FaZe team. He is currently 34 years old and ranked 44th in the world rankings.
Like Snappi, Finn serves as the entry fragger and in-game leader in his team.
Karrigan never managed to win a major, but he has performed quite successfully at lower-tier tournaments, such as ESL One, ESL Pro, and ELEAGUE, where he regularly placed first with his team. As a result, he managed to earn about $1.2 million in prize money.
Finn stands out among top players because he holds two higher education degrees. He earned master’s degrees in business administration and auditing in 2015 at the Copenhagen Business School. So karrigan has prepared for the end of his professional career and possibly already has plans for a future outside of CS:GO.
It’s also curious that Finn’s father supported him in his passion for the game. He still occasionally accompanies karrigan to tournaments and helps him prepare.
CS:GO – A Game for the Young?
At the highest level – absolutely yes, unfortunately, nature can’t be cheated. But beyond that, unexpected scenarios are possible. Hard to believe, but in Sweden, there’s a team called Silver Snipers, consisting of retirees over the age of 60, and they even managed to win the DreamHack Spring show tournament in the Swedish city of Jönköping in 2020. I should note that Silver Snipers play Counter-Strike not just for fun, but professionally, training 4 hours a day.
By the way, at the time of their tournament victory, the oldest member of the team – and at the same time the oldest CS:GO player – Abbe Drakborg, was already 78 years old. So Counter-Strike knows no age. As Abbe Drakborg said, age is just a number, and “you can't be too old to play video games.”
