This article will go over some of the best players that have graced the European scene, but are no longer playing. It is not an official ranking and will not be followed up by a later ranking, it will merely serve as an editorial piece aimed to reminisce some great players.

1. Markus "Ferus" Stenmark : Generally accepted as being one of the best players to ever play the game, Markus came from Enemy Territory and rocked the scene completely.

2. Quint "Blaze" Spierenburg : One of the most recent high profile players to retire, he went out at the top. Playing for fnatic, one of the top teams in Europe, Quint has always at the epitomé of his game, being one of the most consistent riflers in the scene.

3. Frank "Vivid" Leenaars : Anyone in the scene will know why Vivid quit, though I don't want that to be the focus of this article. Although the circumstances of his demise were upsetting, Frank was a remarkable player who deserves to be remembered for that.

4. Paul "HaGGiS" Ramsay : A great AWPer and an amazing all round aimer, Paul proved himself countless times to be a great player.

5. Mats "rootbeer" Jonsson : With a great resumé of teams, rootbeer is one of those players who gets overlooked quite often. Despite playing for riZe, Dragonality, Default and Team Sweden, people often forget how solid a player rootbeer was.

6. Tuomo "griLLi" Koriseva : One of the best in-game leaders Euro CSS has seen, griLLi led his team to becoming the best team in Europe for a long period of time.

7. Hemmo "albbis" Erkko : Having proved himself in numerous Finnish lineups over the past few years, as well as representing his country, albbis has shown himself to be a prolific fragger time after time.

8. Martin "iNhu" Laanus : With amazing aim and rifle control, him and eKu really surprised Europe when they appeared, showing that they could compete with the best Europe had to offer.

9. Janne "Dsltr" Rajamaki : One of the most underhyped players of our time, Janne played for Logitech.fi for ages, and never got the exposure he deserved.

10. Michael "Shift" Walker : The second, and final UK player to grace this list is none other than Shift. Playing for some of the best teams the UK have had (Zboard, 4K, Devastation, Dragonality and Reason Gaming), Shift is a great player.