How to run 5v5 competitive matches on a Counter-Strike 2 server

A stock Counter-Strike 2 server can host ten people on a competitive map, and that is where its help ends. It has no ready-up, no knife round, no side-choice after the knife, no tactical timeouts either team can call, no way to lock five specific SteamIDs to each team, and no round backup you can restore when someone disconnects at 12-11. Those are the things that turn a server into a match server, and on CS2 they all come from a plugin.

The plugin that does it is MatchZy. It runs on the CounterStrikeSharp stack, handles pugs out of the box with no configuration, and takes a JSON file when you want a locked BO1, BO3 or BO5 with named teams.

This guide covers installing it, running an unconfigured pug, setting up a real match, and the commands players and admins actually use during one.

Check MatchZy's maintenance status before you build on it

As of 7 August 2026, MatchZy's most recent release is 0.8.15, published 25 October 2025, and there have been no commits on any branch since that date. CounterStrikeSharp has shipped many releases in the same window, most recently v1.0.371 on 10 July 2026. Users were still filing behaviour-specific bug reports as recently as late July 2026, which suggests it is still running for people, but we have not tested 0.8.15 against the current CounterStrikeSharp on our own hardware. Install it on a test server and confirm it loads before you schedule a match on it.

What does MatchZy do that a stock CS2 server cannot?

How do I install MatchZy on my CS2 server?

MatchZy is a CounterStrikeSharp plugin, so the framework goes on first.

1. Install Metamod:Source and CounterStrikeSharp. Full procedure in How to install plugins on a Counter-Strike 2 server.

2. Download the latest release from github.com/shobhit-pathak/MatchZy/releases and extract it into the csgo/ directory of your server.

3. Restart the server.

4. Run css_plugins list in the server console. MatchZy should be listed.

MatchZy also publishes bundled with-cssharp archives that include CounterStrikeSharp, which lets you skip step 1. Be aware of what that means in practice: the bundle pins whichever CounterStrikeSharp build was current when that MatchZy release was cut — October 2025 for 0.8.15 — rather than the current one. If you are running other plugins that expect a newer framework, install the two separately.

On Windows you need the Windows build of CounterStrikeSharp specifically.

Everything MatchZy reads and writes lives in csgo/cfg/MatchZy/. If that folder is not there after a restart, the extraction went somewhere other than csgo/.

How do I run a pug without configuring anything?

You do not have to set up a match to use MatchZy. It starts in pug mode by default, which means teams are not locked and anyone can join either side.

Get ten people in, then:

• Everyone types .ready (or !ready, or the short .r).
• Once enough players are ready, warmup ends and the knife round starts.
• The knife winner types .stay or .switch.
• The match goes live.

Both . and ! work as prefixes for almost every command.

Two settings decide how the start behaves, and they are the first two you will want to change:

• .readyrequired <number> — how many ready players are needed. 0 means every connected player must ready up.
• .roundknife — toggles the knife round off, so warmup goes straight to live.

.settings prints the current state of both, which is quicker than reading the config.

MatchZy has three other modes beyond pug: practice mode (.prac), scrim mode (.playout, which plays out all rounds regardless of who has clinched), and match mode, which is what a config file loads.

How do I set up a locked 5v5 match?

Write a JSON file, put it in the csgo directory, and load it. This is what locks players to teams and sides.

{
  "matchid": 27,
  "team1": {
    "name": "Team A",
    "players": {
      "76561197990682262": "player1",
      "76561198010511021": "player2",
      "76561197979669175": "player3",
      "76561198028458803": "player4",
      "76561198024248129": "player5"
    }
  },
  "team2": {
    "name": "Team B",
    "players": {
      "76561198034202275": "player6",
      "76561198044045107": "player7",
      "76561198246607476": "player8",
      "76561198121220486": "player9",
      "76561198040577200": "player10"
    }
  },
  "num_maps": 3,
  "maplist": ["de_mirage", "de_overpass", "de_inferno"],
  "map_sides": ["team1_ct", "team2_ct", "knife"],
  "clinch_series": true,
  "players_per_team": 5,
  "cvars": {
    "hostname": "Team A vs Team B",
    "mp_friendlyfire": "0"
  }
}

Load it from the server console:

matchzy_loadmatch team_a_vs_team_b.json

The path is relative to the csgo directory. To load one over HTTP instead — useful if a bot or web panel generates the file — use matchzy_loadmatch_url <url>, optionally with a header name and value for authentication. Wrap all arguments in double quotes.

Match config fields

Two limitations are documented by the project. Coaches cannot be assigned in the config — add them to a team's players and have them run .coach <side> in the server. And only SteamID64 is supported; the STEAM_0:1:1 form is not.

What commands do players use during a match?

Starting the match

Pausing and timeouts

Restoring a round

.stop is disabled by default — matchzy_stop_command_available ships as false. Turn it on before a match if you want teams to be able to roll a round back themselves. A related setting, matchzy_stop_command_no_damage, makes .stop unavailable once someone has damaged an opponent that round. After any restore, the match stays paused by default until both teams .unpause or an admin force-unpauses.

Coaching

What admin commands does MatchZy have?

How do I make myself a MatchZy admin?

Two ways, and either works.

Use CounterStrikeSharp's admin system by adding yourself to addons/counterstrikesharp/configs/admins.json with the relevant flags. MatchZy maps them like this:

Or use MatchZy's own list at csgo/cfg/MatchZy/admins.json, which is simply SteamID64s:

{
  "76561198154367261": "",
  "76561198808392634": ""
}

The file creates itself when the plugin first loads. .reload_admins picks up changes without a restart.

matchzy_everyone_is_admin does exactly what it says

It defaults to false. Setting it to true gives every connected player admin permissions, including .rcon. It is a convenience for a private test server and nothing else.

How do I record demos of my matches?

MatchZy records automatically. Recording starts once all teams have readied up and stops when the map produces a result. GOTV must be enabled — tv_enable 1 — for this to work.

Keep {TIME} in the name format — it is what makes each file unique, and without it demos overwrite each other.

If you upload demos, MatchZy sends three headers your endpoint can read: MatchZy-FileName, MatchZy-MatchId and MatchZy-MapNumber (zero-indexed within the series).

One warning from the project worth repeating: do not change tv_delay or tv_enable inside warmup.cfg, live.cfg and the other phase configs. Set tv_delay on the server generally instead. Changing it mid-match causes problems with demos.

Which settings should I change before my first match?

Everything lives in csgo/cfg/MatchZy/config.cfg, which executes whenever the plugin loads. After editing, run exec MatchZy/config.cfg to reload it without restarting.

The four phase configs — warmup.cfg, knife.cfg, live.cfg and prac.cfg, all in csgo/cfg/MatchZy/ — are executed when each phase begins. This is where match convars belong, not in server.cfg. If those files are missing, MatchZy falls back to defaults compiled into the plugin. You can also add live_override.cfg or live_wingman_override.cfg to layer changes on top of the shipped live config rather than editing it.

Where do match stats go?

MatchZy configures a local SQLite database automatically, writing to two tables: matchzy_stats_matches for match-level data such as match ID, team names and scores, and matchzy_stats_players for per-player stats.

To share stats across several servers, switch to MySQL in csgo/cfg/MatchZy/database.json by changing DatabaseType from SQLite to MySQL and filling in the host, database, username, password and port.

A CSV is also written per match into csgo/MatchZy_Stats, named match_data_map{mapNumber}_{matchId}.csv.

FAQ

Do I need a match config file to use MatchZy?

No. MatchZy starts in pug mode, where .ready and the knife round work with no configuration at all. A match config is only needed when you want players locked to specific teams and sides, or a BO3/BO5 series.

Why can nobody join my server?

Check matchzy_kick_when_no_match_loaded. If it is true, MatchZy kicks everyone and blocks joins until a match is loaded with matchzy_loadmatch. That is deliberate behaviour for a dedicated match server, and surprising everywhere else. It defaults to false.

Why does .stop do nothing?

matchzy_stop_command_available defaults to false, so the command is disabled until you turn it on. If it is enabled and still does nothing, check matchzy_stop_command_no_damage — that makes the command unavailable once a player has damaged an opponent that round.

Can MatchZy work with a web panel?

Yes. MatchZy supports the Get5 web panel — G5V for the front end and G5API for the back end — so you can create teams, set up matches, run veto and see live scores and stats from a browser. The project documents three gaps in that integration: some stats such as KAST, flash assists and bomb plants are reported as zero; coaches cannot be assigned from the panel, only with .coach <side> in game; and backups cannot be listed or restored from the panel, though .stop and .restore still work in game.

Does MatchZy replace an admin plugin?

No. Its admin commands are match commands — start, restart, pause, restore, change map. It has no kick, ban, gag or mute. For those you need either the native RCON commands covered in Counter-Strike 2 server commands or a separate admin plugin.

Why do my . commands do nothing?

Either MatchZy is not loaded — check css_plugins list — or the chat trigger has been changed. CounterStrikeSharp's core.json sets PublicChatTrigger to ! and SilentChatTrigger to / by default; MatchZy's own commands accept both . and !.

Can I use MatchZy just for grenade practice?

Yes, and it is one of the better reasons to install it. .prac puts the server in practice mode, which adds spawn teleports, bot placement and boosting, grenade rethrow with per-nade delays, saved lineups with .savenade and .loadnade, and .clear to remove active smokes and molotovs. .exitprac returns to match mode.

What to read next

• How to install plugins on a Counter-Strike 2 server — the Metamod and CounterStrikeSharp stack MatchZy needs
• Counter-Strike 2 server commands — native RCON, kick and ban commands, and the full convar reference
• Counter-Strike 2 configuration — which config file executes when
• Getting started with your Counter-Strike 2 Server — first boot, ports and connecting

Match servers are bursty by nature — idle most of the week, then ten players and a GOTV feed on a Tuesday night. Our Counter-Strike 2 server hosting plans give you the console and file access this setup needs.

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