The most-viewed VALORANT esports matches of 2025

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Here’s a look at the ten most popular VALORANT esports matches from 2025, along with some interesting details about them.

Wow, 2025 was an amazing year for VALORANT esports! There were so many incredible moments – unbelievable comebacks, dominant wins, and just awesome plays all year long. But a few matches really stuck with fans, and I’ve been looking into the most popular ones. Here’s a rundown of those games and some cool details about them.

Most popular VALORANT esports matchups in 2025

While the biggest League of Legends esports events in 2025 are often dominated by one team, the most popular VALORANT team isn’t so overpowering. Paper Rex leads the way with five of the most-watched matches, closely followed by Fnatic with four.

Here’s a chart from Esports Charts showing the ten most-watched VALORANT esports matches of 2025, ranked by the highest number of concurrent viewers.

It’s interesting to note that Wolves Esports is the sole team from the VCT CN league to be included. This means every region in the league has at least one representative on the list!

Something I noticed while looking through this list is that it only includes games between teams from different regions. It’s cool to see, though a little weird, that Paper Rex and Fnatic actually play each other twice on here!

10. DRX vs. MIBR (VALORANT Champions 2025 Lower Bracket Quarterfinals)

The match between MIBR and DRX ranks tenth on this list, but it was a very close call. The teams in eighth, ninth, and tenth place are all incredibly close in score, differing by less than 1%.

The Champions 2025 elimination match between DRX (Pacific) and MIBR (Americas) attracted 680,000 live viewers. Erick “aspas” Santos had an incredible performance, achieving a KDA of 76 kills, 51 assists, and 8 deaths over three maps – finishing the match with a remarkable +25 KDA difference.

DRX’s strong teamwork and coordination proved too much for MIBR, resulting in their elimination. DRX continued their impressive run, eventually reaching the lower bracket final – a performance that earned them the ninth spot on this list.

This was an incredibly unexpected win for the South Korean organization.

9. Fnatic vs. DRX (VALORANT Champions 2025 Lower Bracket Final)

Following their victory over MIBR, DRX convincingly defeated Paper Rex, removing them from the competition. This made DRX the last remaining team from the Pacific region to reach the top three.

Fnatic had just lost to NRG in the upper bracket final, but they quickly bounced back by defeating DRX in a decisive best-of-five series. Fnatic won convincingly with scores of 13-3 and 13-4, earning them a second chance to compete against NRG.

8. Gen.G Esports vs. G2 Esports (Masters Toronto Lower Bracket Quarterfinals)

It’s surprising to see this matchup, but considering Gen.G’s strong performance earlier in the year and G2’s recent loss in the Masters Bangkok final, it’s starting to become clearer why this is happening.

Gen.G Esports finished second in the first stage of VCT Pacific. While Rex Regum Qeon had already been knocked out of the competition by Fnatic, many people still favored Paper Rex, who were doing well in the upper bracket. However, a lot of fans in the Pacific region were particularly focused on Gen.G’s performance.

Everyone thought they were a top team, and for good reason – they’d performed perfectly in the Swiss Stage and won their first playoff match against Fnatic. But after a decisive loss to Wolves, which sent them to the lower bracket, people started to doubt them. Facing G2, the top-ranked team from the Americas, they couldn’t handle the pressure and lost 1-2, ending their run.

7. G2 Esports vs. Paper Rex (VALORANT Champions 2025 Upper Bracket Quarterfinals)

From here, the Paper Rex domination of the most-viewed VALORANT esports matches in 2025 begins.

Bringing up the rear, and quite a bit behind the match before it, is the PRX versus G2 quarterfinals game from this year’s championship.

G2 Esports won both of their matches against Paper Rex in 2024. However, the tables turned in 2025. When the two teams met in the quarterfinals of Masters Toronto, Paper Rex defeated G2, going on to win the entire tournament.

This happened for the second time at the Championships, and the outcome was the same. G2’s Nathan “leaf” Orf played well, but it wasn’t enough to win, and they lost the match 1-2 after three maps.

6. Paper Rex vs. Team Heretics (VALORANT Champions 2025 Lower Bracket Quarterfinals)

Paper Rex defeated G2, but then lost to Fnatic and was sent to the lower bracket. There, they went on to play against Team Heretics.

As a fan, it’s always been clear that PRX usually dominates this particular matchup, and this time was no exception – they really proved they were the better team overall. It was a shock though, because despite playing so well, they ended up getting knocked out in the next round by another team from the Pacific region, DRX!

5. Paper Rex vs. Wolves Esports (Masters Toronto Upper Bracket Final)

Wolves Esports exceeded expectations from VCT CN fans and viewers in general. They easily defeated teams like RRQ and Gen.G during the playoffs, and everyone was excited to see if they could continue their winning streak against another Pacific team.

W Gaming was dominant throughout the series, losing to PRX 2-0 and falling to the lower bracket. Although Fnatic defeated them there, Paper Rex ultimately won the championship.

4. Paper Rex vs. Fnatic (VALORANT Champions 2025 Upper Bracket Semifinal)

Following their victory over G2 Esports at Champs (as highlighted in point #7), Paper Rex moved on to the upper bracket semifinals, where they faced Fnatic.

Fnatic was expected to win, or at least be the favorite, going into this match. However, with Domagoj “Doma” Fancev temporarily replacing Emir “Alfajer” Beder, that wasn’t the case. Some esports betting sites even gave Fnatic odds of 3.18 to win, suggesting they were considered the underdog.

Fnatic still took the win, 2-1, even with their stand-in.

3. Paper Rex vs. Fnatic (Masters Toronto Grand Final)

You’re not mistaken – Paper Rex and Fnatic are facing off again, and this match is projected to exceed one million live viewers, making it one of the most anticipated events.

VALORANT fans worldwide were thrilled by this best-of-five match, particularly those eager to see Paper Rex win an international championship. After a hard-fought battle over four maps, they finally achieved victory, boosted by their new player, Patrick “PatMen” Mendoza.

2. T1 vs G2 Esports (Masters Bangkok Grand Final)

This is the only entry in the top ten from Masters Bangkok.

G2 was expected to win the Masters Bangkok tournament after playing exceptionally well. Throughout the event, they only lost a single match – a game against EDward Gaming in the Swiss Stage.

However, T1 had to fight their way through the losers bracket to reach the finals. Despite a grueling match that lasted five maps and included two overtime periods, they ultimately secured the victory.

Okay, so this game’s stats were seriously wild! This player, jawgemo, absolutely went off, racking up 103 kills over five maps – and two of his teammates were right behind him with 94 and 92 kills each! But here’s the craziest part: T1 actually won the whole match even though every single player on their team had a negative kill-to-death ratio. I mean, how does that even happen?!

1. NRG vs. Fnatic (VALORANT Champions 2025 Grand Final)

The most popular VALORANT esports match of 2025 was the championship final between NRG and Fnatic.

The best-of-five match was incredible, bringing joy to NRG supporters and disappointment to Fnatic fans. Beyond a successful year and tournament, NRG’s victory also marked a historic moment: Ethan Arnold became the first player to win the VALORANT World Championship twice.

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2025-12-30 17:43