France has long been one of the most passionate regions in Counter-Strike, producing stars throughout the iterations of Counter-Strike, dominating CSS with Verygame, followed by Shox and KennyS in CSGO and with ZywOo and apEX who recently shaped an era with Vitality. Yet, when it comes to the development of young talents, academies always lacked real support.
Vitality’s Rumored Academy
Rumours in late 2025 suggested that Vitality was considering expanding its presence in Counter-Strike with the recruitment of an academy team. If nothing has been officially announced as of now, Neo, Vitality CEO confirmed in multiple interviews that the project was already in the papers and was originally scheduled to be announced in January. In the scene, Vitality is already known for taking risks and young talents and prospect such as ZywOo, kyojin and misutaaa who had no experience at the T1 level before joining the team, or flameZ and spinx who just started to sprout at the highest level. While some were better than others, having an academy could help them flourish in the right context.
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The rumoured academy project is set to be centered around French phenom Katkame, with a mix of Europeans players. The 16 years old has been making waves in the French scene and has already been mentioned by some of the best players as the next French superstar, and his AWPing skills are already being compared to those of ZywOo, Counter-Strike’s best French player.
For Vitality, creating a pipeline for talents could be the most beneficial move the organisation has made, as it could help the main team with future stars or could also work as a revenue source if the players are to be sold to other organisations.
3DMAX: Ebb and Flow Through Iterations
In recent years, the most notable French academy experiments has been 3DMAX. Launched in June, the project saw many different names go through its ranks. If stability is often key for teams, academies can be thought differently, and having rotations between players can be a solution in order to find the next talent. Spirit academy is a project consisting of 6 different teams and with at least 30 players, scouting can be done easily.
With no other French team close to the top 30 level, changes within 3DMAX main roster are complicated, and the French talent pool isn’t developed enough to find a suitable replacement for any players. Creating its own pipeline could be the solution to maintain a French squad at the highest level.
GenOne Academy: A Promise Unfulfilled
Back in 2021, GenOne launched an ambitious academy project aimed specifically at young French talent. After developing players like Gravity, neityu and kursy, the project slowly focused only on the main squad and the academy died down. In late 2025, KRL, GenOne founder announced the return of the academy, but after unsuccessful tryouts he had to cancel the project. In the end, InN and nelix, the two outstanding talents were recommended and joined the 3DMAX Academy project.
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GenOne’s experience highlights the difficulty of sustaining academy projects in Counter-Strike with the current VRS system. Success requires not just talent identification but long-term funding, and a clear route to LANs opportunities in order to grind points and future tournaments invites. While it didn’t manage to replicate the story of its past, GenOne and its academy project are still trying to put French CS back at the top of the scene.
The future of the French Academy Model
Even if French CS has produced stars, academies are the key to long term success and examples are many. MOUZ current roster almost all came from its NXT team while donk, zont1x and kyosuke from spirit academy. Supporting those kinds of rosters requires salaries, coaching staff, bootcamps, and tournament travel and those costs are some that only few French organisations can consistently bear.
Recently some legacy orgs are back in action, aAa founded in 2000, fielding many teams across Counter-Strike and the first professional team of ZywOo recently announced it’s return with a project led by former pro and coach Ozstrikzr. Fielding many young talents, the project aims to give an opportunity for players to be guided to higher tiers of competition.
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France’s Counter-Strike heritage is undeniable. From the VeryGame golden era to Vitality’s record-breaking season in 2025, the region continues to punch above its weight. But legacy alone is not enough to push the next generation of players into the grind of becoming a Pro. The key going into 2026 and beyond will be creating real development pipelines, whether through official academy structures or supporting sub-top organisations that serve as proving grounds for young players. Some French orgs that recently joined the scene could also launch some projects to support their long term success. M8 who arrived with a Spanish team, could start a similar project as Vitality academy with an international team.
Vitality’s success in 2025 may act as a catalyst, proving that French teams can compete and win at the highest level. But turning that success into sustainable development infrastructure will be the next challenge for French Counter-Strike.
