*This interview is from France's L'Équipe. As one of France's most representative and influential comprehensive sports media outlets, L'Équipe has long covered traditional sports such as football, tennis, and cycling, while also continuing to follow esports events and French players. This fully demonstrates ZywOo's influence in the domestic sports scene.
2025 World Player of the Year and CS star ZywOo, despite interest from other clubs, announced on Wednesday that he has extended his contract with Vitality until the end of 2028. The French player, who has only played for Vitality since turning professional, also talked about why he wants to continue with the club.
Q: You just renewed with Vitality until the end of 2028. What conditions did you put forward to make this renewal happen?
ZywOo: Actually, I didn't ask for any special conditions. They offered me a two-year contract, and I accepted. After that, it was up to my management team and the club to handle the contractual details... Anyway, my only condition was to have a competitive team. Over the past few years, we've always had such a team at Vitality. It's a club I trust, and I've always stayed here. Signing for two years means that if any problems arise in the future, I won't be tied down by too long a contract, while also having a certain level of security.
Q: Actually, you said something similar when you last renewed your contract in 2024. Other clubs were interested in you at that time as well... but you never seemed to have truly considered other options.
ZywOo: At least on my end, I haven't had any negotiations with other teams; my team handles all of that. But no team or player has contacted me directly either, I think everyone knows I'm doing very well at Vitality. I know CS is a very important project for the club. They have always trusted us, and when it comes to competitive performance, we have always trusted them. I know they are willing to put in the effort.
Q: apEX renewed his contract alongside you this time. He is your captain and your only French teammate, and has fought side by side with you since you started your career. Did this have an impact on your decision?
ZywOo: Players don't really discuss contract matters among themselves, unless you really start to question your future... But we know that almost all players and staff will re-sign. After the results of the past two years, we want to continue moving forward with this team. I think we'll do everything we can to keep this lineup together.
Q: The achievements you made in the first half of this year should have further reinforced this idea. How do you evaluate the past six months?
ZywOo: It was a really good six months, because we played in seven tournaments and won five of them. The only one we ultimately failed to win was the Major in Cologne in June, and we really had a great chance to win the title because the match against Falcons was very close. Of course we're disappointed because we were really just inches away from victory... but overall, it was still an excellent half-season. I think 99% of teams would wish they could have results like this.
Q: How do you explain the loss to Falcons in the most important game of the season? This team seems to have caused you a lot of trouble this season.
ZywOo: These things are always hard to explain. When you rewatch the match afterwards, you feel like they wanted to win more than we did at the time. They were in a honeymoon period, karrigan had just joined, and we weren't in our best form, not the best version of Vitality.
In terms of individual performance, they did outplay us a bit, and we weren't able to make decisions well together, and our communication was a little worse than usual. The games were actually very close all along, and in the end it was just some small details that decided the outcome — that's competitive play. There was a period before when we had the upper hand against them, and now it's their turn. I think both sides may know each other too well by now, so almost every time we play each other it will be very close.
Q: After the Major, you took a month off and were then eliminated from BLAST Bounty S2. Does this mean the team needs to sound the alarm?
ZywOo: No cause for alarm. We will have more training coming up, and we don't need to go to Malta to train anymore. We have no worries at all, we will get that strong feeling back, and we are already much better than before. It's also great to be able to compete in Paris now, we'll have a home-ground feeling. We're really looking forward to getting on stage to compete, that's our real goal.
Q: You started your career seven years ago with Vitality, and you're still there today. Is there a chance we might see you wearing another team's jersey in the future?
ZywOo: At this rate, I'll soon have been with Vitality for ten years. I'm someone who is very focused on the present, so I don't think about what will happen after that, or how this team will change in the future, or how I'll feel at that time.
If I were to spend my entire career at Vitality, then I would stay at Vitality. Of course, a lot could happen in the future — some things might make me choose to retire, or might make me change clubs. But at least for now, my choice is Vitality. I'm on one of the best teams in the world... why would I switch teams?