{"id":872417,"date":"2025-09-12T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/11-past-champions-remain-at-the-international-2025-two-of-them-could-become-three-time-champs\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T01:12:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:12:22","slug":"11-past-champions-remain-at-the-international-2025-two-of-them-could-become-three-time-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/11-past-champions-remain-at-the-international-2025-two-of-them-could-become-three-time-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Past Champions Remain at The International 2025, Two Of Them Could Become Three-Time Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>In the history of The International, since the inaugural Dota 2 esports event premiered at Gamescom 2011, only 10 stars have lifted the <strong>Aegis of Champions<\/strong> twice. At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esports.net\/wiki\/tournaments\/the-international-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The International 2025<\/a>, there\u2019s a solid chance one or more players will breathe in this rarified air when the dust settles over the <strong>Barclays Arena<\/strong> in Hamburg, Germany on September 14.<\/p>\n<p>After all, The International 2025 is wide open for the taking, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esports.net\/news\/dota\/team-liquids-insania-says-team-spirit-are-the-team-to-beat-at-ti14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">favorites such as <strong>Team Spirit<\/strong><\/a> and the defending champions, <strong>Team Liquid<\/strong>, sent packing early, and the resurgence of Chinese Dota thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esports.net\/news\/xtreme-gaming-top-eight-the-international-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Xtreme Gaming\u2019s flawless Swiss Stage run<\/a>, sending shockwaves through the community.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_340042\">\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-340042\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esports.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/audi_2000.jpg\" alt=\"audi_2000\" width=\"1743\" height=\"1161\"  ><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-340042\"><strong>Image Credit:<\/strong> Valve<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are nine players and two coaches who fans must take special note of, as they have a chance to etch themselves into the history books.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-aegis-of-champions-beckons-for-familiar-hands\">The Aegis of Champions Beckons for Familiar Hands<\/h2>\n<p>Five of the eight teams at the Playoffs Stage at The International 2025 have one or more players or a coach who have previously won the event. You\u2019ll find the list of these players and their respective teams outlined below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zhang \u201cxiao8\u201d Ning<\/strong> (Xtreme Gaming) \u2013 Won The International 2014 with Newbee as a player<\/li>\n<li><strong>Martin \u201cSaksa\u201d Sazdov<\/strong> (Tundra Esports) \u2013 Won The International with the team<\/li>\n<li><strong>Neta \u201c33\u201d Shapira<\/strong> (Tundra Esports) \u2013 Won The International 2022 with Tundra Esports, and The International 2024 with Team Liquid<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oliver \u201cskiter\u201d Lepko<\/strong> and <strong>Jingjun \u201cSneyking\u201d Wu<\/strong> (Team Falcons) \u2013 Won The International 2022 with Tundra Esports<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kurtis \u201cAui_2000\u201d Ling<\/strong> (Tundra Esports) \u2013 Won The International 2015 with Evil Geniuses, and The International 2022 as the coach of Tundra Esports<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zhang \u201cFaith_bian\u201d Ruida<\/strong> and <strong>Zhang \u201cy`\u201d Yiping<\/strong> (Team Tidebound) \u2013 Won The International 2016 with Wings Gaming<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sumail \u201cSumaiL\u201d Hassan<\/strong> (Nigma Galaxy) \u2013 Won The International 2015 with Evil Geniuses<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maroun \u201cGH\u201d Merhe<\/strong>j (Nigma Galaxy) \u2013 Won The International 2017 with Team Liquid<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kuro \u201cKuroKy\u201d Salehi Takhasomi<\/strong> (Coach for Nigma Galaxy) \u2013 Won The International 2017 with Team Liquid as a player<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With many of these contenders on the opposite sides of the Playoffs bracket, the chances of a repeat champion are high.<\/p>\n<p>There are two stars from the list above that we must discuss even further, since they could become the first-ever pro player to lift the Aegis of Champions three times.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"33-and-aui_2000-looking-for-the-threepeat\">33 and Aui_2000 Looking for the Threepeat<\/h2>\n<p>No player has ever won The International three times. The now-retired Finnish superstar, <strong>Topias \u201cTopson\u201d Taavitsainen<\/strong>, has come the closest, winning The International twice with <strong>OG<\/strong> (becoming the first and only back-to-back champions in 2019) and then placing third with Tundra Esports last year. <\/p>\n<p>Despite being one of the favorites, Team Spirit crashed out of The International 2025 in the Elimination Round, losing 2-0 to Team Falcons, which means the only remaining player at The International 2025 who has a shot at becoming a three-time champion is Israeli offlaner for Tundra Esports, the great Neta \u201c33\u201d Shapira.<\/p>\n<p>At The International 2022\u2019s Grand Final, Tundra Esports crushed <strong>Team Secret<\/strong> 3-0, and 33 became a world champion. With Team Liquid at The International 2024, 33 once again lifted the Aegis of Champions, beating <strong>Gaimin Gladiators<\/strong> 3-0 in the Grand Final. He is the first and only player to ever win two The Internationals with different teams.<\/p>\n<p>Team Falcons\u2019 coach, Kurtis \u201cAui_2000\u201d Ling, won The International 2015 as a player for <strong>Evil Geniuses<\/strong>, and The International 2022 as a coach for Tundra Esports. He is the first \u2013 and still the only \u2013 person to ever win the event both as a coach and a player. <\/p>\n<p>If Team Falcons wins The International 2025, Aui_2000 will become the 2nd coach in history to win a The International twice (the honor of being first goes to Team Spirit\u2019s <strong>Airat \u201cSilent\u201d Gaziev<\/strong>), and remain the only person in the history books to win the tournament as a player and a coach.<\/p>\n<p>The jury\u2019s out on what\u2019s more impressive: becoming the first person ever to win the iconic event three times as a player, or once as a player, and multiple times as a coach. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> Wessel Minnie <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.esports.net\/news\/the-international-2025-remaining-champions\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the history of The International, since the inaugural Dota 2 esports event premiered at Gamescom 2011, only 10 stars have lifted the Aegis of Champions twice. At The International 2025, there\u2019s a solid chance one or more players will breathe in this rarified air when the dust settles over the Barclays Arena in Hamburg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":872418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1532,2699],"tags":[13465,6694],"class_list":{"0":"post-872417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-champions","8":"category-remain","9":"tag-champions","10":"tag-remain"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}