As part of a special project “33 proud moments” 24 Channels I will mention only a few of the most visible stars that we can definitely be proud of. However, it is also worth remembering that Ukraine has given birth to hundreds of other talents over the decades.

e-Sports

• John “Edward” Sukharev

Ioann Sukharev, known as “Edward” from Kharkiv, is probably the first person that comes to mind for anyone interested in eSports. Although he ended his career this year, we cannot ignore his numerous achievements in the eSports world.

Sukharev played Counter-Strike from 2001 to 2024 and became one of the most recognizable players in the world. He played for many teams, including Ukraine’s Natus Vincere, Romania’s Selectah and Germany’s ESC. He also has other Ukrainian teams on his account: Astana Dragons in 2013, TbaTbaTba and KHAN in 2021 and Cossaks in 2022.

Now the former e-sportsman is the owner of many titles and awards, including:

• 2010 WCG World Champion, Los Angeles.
• 2010 ESWC World Champion, Paris.
• Silver medalist of this tournament in 2011.
• Bronze medalist of 2013.
• Gold medalist of the 2010 IEM IV World Championship in Hanover.
• Gold medalist of the 2011 IEM V World Championship series, Hannover.
• 2012 IEM VI Championship Hannover World Series Silver Medalist, Hannover.

Edward entered the list of the world’s best players in 2011 and was ranked 15th. In 2013, he was ranked 16th by HLTV.org.

• Victor General Nigrini

A player from Uzhhorod is actively tearing up the Dota 2 scene. He is called one of the strongest cyber athletes in the world. The boy began his career at the age of 18, but long before that he was fond of computer games.

Very soon, he got the opportunity to play for Natus Vincere, where he stayed for quite a long time and attracted the attention of the whole world. Then he took a one-year break from his career. And when he came back, he continued to win.

• Valery Vakhovsky, b1t

Counter-Strike 2 player Valery Vachovsky became a notable figure in the eSports world after winning the CIS Junior Championship – Berlin 2019 open qualifiers with his team NOTBAD. He was one of the first to receive an invitation to NAVI Junior and a few years later became a full-fledged player on the main team.

As stated on the official NAVI website, b1t is “famous for his headers”. It was he who showed the highest average number of hits per round at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, and also set a record for the entire history of Major tournaments according to this indicator. Such an achievement could not escape the attention of eSports fans.

• Evgeny “Yozhyk” Mostovyk

Evgeny is one of the best players in the world in FIFA and once played for the Ukrainian e-sports organization Natus Vincere since 2011. Born in Lviv, he was fond of football since childhood. He started his career as a professional e-sports player in FIFA at the age of 17.

His first serious tournament was the World Cyber ​​Games, where he finished third. Six years later, he was already invited One of the best players in the world and FIFA’s most decorated player.

Today, Yevhen Mostovyk runs a popular YouTube channel with 341,000 subscribers, where he talks about FIFA itself, tournaments, updates, eSports news, and more.

• Danylo Ishutin, known as Dendi

Ishutin from Lviv is probably the most famous Dota 2 player in the world. From 2010 to 2018, he played for Natus Vincere and became one of the winners of The International. Later, he played for international teams Tigers and The Pango, and in 2020, he decided to leave them and create his own esports organization called B8 Esports. Since then, Ishutin has been playing for his own team.

Poker

We also do poker without a fight. Our poker players always make headlines, earning tens of thousands of dollars and sometimes more. We present five famous Ukrainian players who are known all over the world.

• Evgeny Kachalov

One of the most successful Ukrainian poker players. Some media even call him the best poker player in Ukraine. Kachalov earned about $10 million during his careerand his biggest single tournament earnings are nearly $2.5 million.

Eugene started playing poker at the age of 20, while living in the United States. At the same time, his parents hoped that the boy would go into business. Kachalov’s first serious win was solid $47,868For someone who had never won more than a thousand in total before this, this meant only one thing: you shouldn’t stop here.

Fortunately, Yevhen moved on. Today, he is a world-class poker star, winner of numerous awards, including a WSOP bracelet, and founder of the QLASH eSports team. However, it is worth noting that Kachalov hardly plays professional poker anymore and calls himself a “former poker pro.”

• Evgeny Tymoshenko

Tymoshenko was born in Ukraine but later moved to the United States. She began her career in 2003 and managed to earn her first half million dollars in competitions over the course of 5 years.

His biggest career win came in 2009, when he won the Seventh Annual Five Star World Poker Classic in Las Vegas for $2,149,960. The total amount of his winnings is almost certain 8 million dollars (as of 2023).

Today, Yevgeny is on the second place in the list of the most profitable players in Ukraine, being the champion of the WCOOP tournament.

• Ihor Yaroshevsky

Yaroshevsky comes from Dnipro. Like previous players, he is one of the most successful Ukrainian poker players, having reached the prize zone of the World Series of Poker tournaments more than 40 times. In 2015, Ihor came as close as possible to winning the bracelet, but took only 2nd place and received $ 303,767.

The player’s total profit is estimated today $4,184,444.

There are many Ukrainians among the world’s famous poker players / Unsplash photo

• Oleksiy Khoroshenin

Another professional poker player with many victories and earning over three million dollarsAt first he played mostly online, but later moved on to live tournaments where he started winning a lot more.

Khoroshenin is from Kiev but currently lives in London. In 2014 he won first place in the European Poker Tour Vienna. However, now the Ukrainian poker player has taken a break from his career.

• Oleksandr Dovzhenko

Having a very recognizable name, Dovzhenko has made money from tournaments throughout his career. almost three million dollarsHis best achievement so far is the 2nd place in the European Poker Tour in Kiev in 2009.

He has more than 20 victories in major tournaments. He won the capital’s largest prize money, earning 220,000 euros.

When completed

This is far from the entire list of Ukrainian e-sports and poker stars that we can talk about, because every season new names appear, behind which there are serious achievements and earnings. At the same time, many legends have already completed their careers and are practically not present in the sports information field.

Even so, each of our esports players has made a significant contribution to the proper representation of Ukraine on the world stage. Others continue to do so as players, presenters or commentators of the tournament. And that is something to be proud of.