Cyberathlete Professional League

Cyberathlete Professional League
Sport	Electronic sports
Founded	June 27, 1997
Most recent; champion(s)	X3O (CS); Team XFX (CSS);
Most titles	SK-Gaming (7 times)
Official website	thecpl.com

The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Daniel Munoz on June 27, 1997 in Dallas, Texas.^[1] The CPL is considered the pioneer^[2] in professional video game tournaments, which have been held worldwide. The CPL's tournaments are open to all registrants, but due to the ESRB content rating of some video games, CPL competitions are restricted to participants age 17 or older. The CPL has distributed more than US$3 million in cash prizes.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, the CPL moved to a World Tour format. The 2005 CPL World Tour focused on the one-on-one deathmatch game Painkiller, and had a total prize purse of $1 million. The winner of the CPL Grand Finals event, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, went home with the grand prize of $150,000, while Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager took home the MVP trophy for having the most tournament wins.

In March 2008, the CPL ceased operations, citing a "crowded field of competing leagues".^[3] On August 25, 2008, the CPL announced that it had signed an acquisition agreement with an investment group based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.^[4] On August 23, 2010, the former parent company of the CPL, announced that the two-year acquisition process of the CPL was finalized, and that the sole owner of the CPL (and its subsidiaries) was now WoLong Ventures PTE of Singapore.^[5]^[6] Following this acquisition, the CPL has hosted annual competitions in China, in collaboration with the municipal government of Shenyang.^[7]

Events[]

2007 and 2010s[]

Date	Event	Venue	Prizes	Game	Winner	Runner-up
2013	CPL Championship 2013^{[citation needed]}	Shenyang	$6,500	StarCraft II	Hui Cao "Jim" Jin	Lee "MarineKing" Jung Hoo
2012	CPL Championship 2012^{[citation needed]}	Shenyang	$10,250	StarCraft II	Xiang "XY" Yao	Xing Biao "Way" Zhu
2012	CPL Championship 2012^{[citation needed]}	Shenyang	$10,250	League of Legends	Invictus Gaming	MVP White
2011	CPL Invitational 2011^{[citation needed]}	Shenyang	$26,057	StarCraft II	Lee "MarineKing" Jung Hoo^[8]	Kim "SaSe" Hammar
				Defense of the Ancients	Invictus Gaming.z^[9]	World Elite
				Warcraft III	Huang "TH000" Xiang^[10]	Wang "Infi" Xu Wen
2008	CPL World Tour 2007: Finals.^[11]	London	$300,000	F.E.A.R	Henrik "Jagad" Dahl^{[citation needed]}	Marc-André "4 Glory" Messier
2008	CPL World Tour 2007: Finals.^[11]	London	$300,000	World In Conflict	Team Dignitas^{[citation needed]}	Don't Care
2007	CPL Winter 2007	Dallas	$60,000	Counter-Strike	x3o-gaming	Dynamo
2007	CPL Winter 2007	Dallas	$60,000	Counter-Strike Source	Team XFX	carnage

2006[]

The 2006 CPL World Season was a series of electronic sports competitions organized by the CPL in the fall of 2006. It was a follow up of the 2005 CPL World Tour and was announced by the CPL on July 31, 2006.^[12]

The tour featured two games, Counter-Strike and Quake 3. After a total of 7 qualifier events, the finals were held on 16–20 December 2006 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dallas, Texas. The championship finals had a total prize purse of $150,000 and were won by ORG: Team: fnatic (Counter-Strike) and Paul "czm" Nelson (Quake 3).

Event	Venue	Prizes	Game	Winner	Runner-up
CPL Winter 2006	Dallas	$150,000	Counter-Strike	fnatic	MeetYourMakers
CPL Winter 2006	Dallas	$150,000	Quake III	Paul "czm" Nelson	Fan "Jibo" Zhibo
CPL World Season 2006: Nordic	Jönköping	Qualifier	Counter-Strike	Ninjas in Pyjamas	H2k Gaming
CPL World Season 2006: Nordic	Jönköping	Qualifier	Quake III	Fan "Jibo" Zhibo	Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira
CPL World Season 2006: Italy	Verona	Qualifier + $50,000	Counter-Strike	aAa	a-Losers
CPL World Season 2006: Italy	Verona	Qualifier + $50,000	Quake III	Magnus "Fojji" Olsson	Marcel "k1llsen" Paul
CPL World Season 2006: Korea	Seoul	Qualifier	Counter-Strike	LAVEGA-GAMING	project_kr
CPL World Season 2006: China	Chengdu	Qualifier	Counter-Strike	Star.ex	Hacker Gaming
CPL World Season 2006: Brazil	São Paulo	Qualifier	Counter-Strike	g3nerationX	Made in Brazil
CPL World Season 2006: Brazil	São Paulo	Qualifier	Quake III	Daniel "Ryu" Souza De Lima	Diogo "met" Fressato
CPL World Season 2006: Singapore	Singapore	Qualifier + $30,000	Counter-Strike	fnatic	SpeedLink
CPL World Season 2006: Singapore	Singapore	Qualifier + $30,000	Quake III	Fan "Jibo" Zhibo	Brian "dkt" Flander

2005[]

The CPL World Tour Logo

At the 2004 Cyberathlete Extreme Summer Championships, the CPL announced details on its largest event ever, the CPL World Tour. This event took place throughout 2005, with a total of 10 international stops, and a finals event held in New York City, televised by MTV.^[13]

Event	Winner	Runner-up	Prizes	Venue
CPL Winter 2005	CS: SK-Gaming Quake 4: Anton "Cooller" Singov F.E.A.R: Neal "cleaner" Sisbarro	CS: Lunatic Hai Quake 4: Johan "Toxjq" Quick F.E.A.R: Steven "BlueWolf" Anderson	$100,000	Dallas
CPL World Tour 2005: Finals	Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	$500,000	New York City
CPL World Tour 2005: Chile	CS: Made in Brazil Painkiller: Alexander "ztrider" Ingarv WC3: Rodolfo "Virus" Ehrhorn	CS: United 5 Painkiller: Andrew "Gelleshak" Ryder WC3: Bernardo "PaTo" Rodrigues	Qualifier + $60,000	Santiago de Chile
CPL World Tour 2005: Italy	Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	Qualifier + $50,000	Milan
CPL World Tour 2005: Singapore	CS: fnatic Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	CS: Team XCN Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	Qualifier + $70,000	Singapore
CPL World Tour 2005: United Kingdom	CS: Team9 Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	CS: Ninjas in Pyjamas Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	Qualifier + $60,000	Sheffield
CPL Summer 2005	CS: SK-Gaming Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel CS:Source: PowersGaming WC3: Yoan "ToD" Merlo Halo 2: Final Boss Day of Defeat: Check Six	CS: Evil Geniuses Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager CS:Source: upper WC3: Dimitar "DIDI8" Aleksandrov Halo 2: h2o Day of Defeat: compLexity	$200,000	Dallas
CPL World Tour 2005: Sweden	Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	Qualifier + $50,000	Jönköping
CPL World Tour 2005: Brazil	CS: Made in Brazil Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	CS: SSV Lehnitz(fnatic) Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel	Qualifier + $70,000	Rio de Janeiro
CPL World Tour 2005: Spain	CS: mousesports Painkiller: Stephan "SteLam" Lammert	CS: compLexity Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager	Qualifier + $70,000	Barcelona
CPL World Tour 2005: Turkey	CS: Catch Gamer Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager WC3: Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen	CS: M19 Painkiller: Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann WC3: Mykhaylo "HoT" Novopashyn	Qualifier + $70,000	Istanbul

2004[]

Event	Winner	Runner-up	Prizes	Venue
CPL Winter 2004	CS: Team NoA Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager Day of Defeat: Highball Doom 3: Yang "RocketBoy" Meng	CS: EYEBALLERS Painkiller: Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann Day of Defeat: Check Six Doom 3: Stefan "dragon" Schott	$150,000	Dallas
CPL UK Qualifier 2004	CS: 4Kings	CS: GoodGame	Qualifier	London
CPL Greece Qualifier 2004	CS: The Titans	CS: TeG	Qualifier	Athens
CPL Brazil Qualifier 2004	CS: g3nerationX	CS: Made in Brazil	Qualifier	São Paulo
CPL Japan Qualifier 2004	CS: Epiphyllum Oxpetalum	CS: Dynamic	Qualifier	Tokyo
CPL Turkey Qualifier 2004	CS: mousesports	CS: Team Quash	Qualifier	Istanbul
CPL Romania Qualifier 2004	CS: SK-Gaming	CS: AMD Cyber Team	Qualifier	Timișoara
CPL Summer 2004	CS: EYEBALLERS Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager UT2K4: SK-Gaming Call of Duty: United 5 Halo: Team Wat?	CS: SK-Gaming Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel UT2K4: Xtreme(fnatic) Call of Duty: Team 3D Halo: cooked_Gamers	$250,000	Dallas

Past CPL World Champions[]

Individual competitions[]

2006 - USA - Paul "czm" Nelson - Quake III^[14]
2005 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - Painkiller^[15]
2004 - The Netherlands - Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager - Painkiller
2003 - Norway - Chris "kJer" Lujan - Painkiller
2002 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - Unreal Tournament 2003
2001 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - Alien versus Predator 2
2001 - Australia - Harley "HarlsoM" Grey - Quakeworld
2000 - USA - Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel - Quake III
1999 - USA - Mark "wombat" Larsen - Quake III
1998 - USA - Dan "Rix" Hammans - Quake II
1997 - USA - Tom "gollum" Dawson - Quake

Team competitions[]

2007: USA - Pandemic - Counter-Strike Source
2006: Sweden - fnatic - Counter-Strike^[16]
2005: Sweden - SK Gaming - Counter-Strike^[17]
2004 - Unattached - Team NoA - Counter-Strike
2003 - Sweden - SK Gaming - Counter-Strike
2002 - USA - Team3D - Counter-Strike
2001 - Sweden - Ninjas in Pyjamas - Counter-Strike
2000 - Sweden - e9 - Counter-Strike

Cyberathlete Amateur League[]

The CPL also owned and operated an online video game league for amateur players and teams, named the Cyberathlete Amateur League or CAL. CAL operated year-round, with regular eight-week seasons, one or two matches per week, and a single-elimination postseason (playoffs).

On November 14, 2008, the newly formed CPL Holding Group, LLC from United Arab Emirates announced that it had acquired CAL.^[18] On February 22, 2009, CAL ceased online operations. At its peak CAL was one of the largest online gaming leagues in North America with 20,000 teams and over 600,000 registered players.^[19]

The CAL is based mainly on online game play. A 2003 competition hosted by CAL was played in a Hyatt Regency Ballroom. Several tables were placed together where 10 computers were set up for the professional gamers. The game was Half-Life: Counterstrike.^[20] The CAL ceased operating in 2009.

CPL divisions[]

In mid-2006, the CPL together with its international partners announced a series of licensed divisions to bring worldwide the experience of the CPL events.

Singapore: Edge of Reality
China: Media Gaming Live Pte Ltd
Australia: Ping Events Australia EH? (James Duffy's "Puffing Duffy's Pro's")
Chile: ALM Ingenieria (LAN-Z) S.A.
Brazil: Made in Brazil Esportes Eletrônicos (MiBR) Ltda
South Korea: International e-Sports Group, Inc (IEG)
Sweden: E-Sport Entertainment Group AB (EEG)
Romania: E-Sport Entertainment, Inc (OSIM)
Italy: A.S. Play.it (ASPI)

Possible fraud leak[]

On April 2, 2010, a former CGS employee Tonya Welch, released information^[21] about an alleged "fraud scheme" by which the new buyers of the CPL had made fictitious statements to the general public and to the previous owner of the CPL. She claimed that the investors were not from Abu Dhabi, as had been announced, but that the purchase was actually conducted by a private group of US investors. Despite the allegations the acquisition was ultimately completed by WoLong Ventures of Singapore.

References[]

^ John Gaudiosi (2013-04-09). "CPL Founder Angel Munoz Explains Why He Left ESports And Launched Mass Luminosity". Forbes.com. Retrieved 1 Jul 2013.
^ "Club FORUM Beograd | PROJECTS |". clubforum.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
^ "Cyberathlete professional league (CPL) is no More!". GameGuru. 17 Mar 2008. Retrieved 15 Aug 2013.
^ Adrenaline Vault (2008-08-25). "Investment Group Acquires CPL". avault.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
^ "NewWorld and WoLong Ventures Announce Completion of CPL Acquisition". newworld.com. 2010-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
^ "NewWorld and WoLong Ventures Announce Completion of CPL and CAL Acquisition" (Press release). NewWorld. 2010-08-23. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
^ "China- Shenyang CPL Championship is Back!!!" (Press release). theCPL.com. 6 Jul 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-08-19. Retrieved 30 Aug 2013.
^ "MarineKing wins CPL Invitational 2011". Retrieved 2014-01-28.
^ "CPL 2011: group-stage details specified". Retrieved 2014-01-17.
^ "沈阳CPL2011国际电子竞技明星邀请赛圆满落幕" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
^ "CPL World Tour 2007: Finals".
^ Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-07-31). "The CPL Announces 2006 World Season". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
^ "MTV To Air CPL Finals". gotfrag.com. 2005-11-25. Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
^ Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-12-21). "Championship Finals Winners!". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
^ Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-09-15). "The CPL Announces Past 1v1 Champions". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
^ Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-12-21). "Championship Finals Winners!". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
^ Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-10-19). "CPL Announces Counter-Strike World Champions". The CPL Romania 2010. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
^ GotFrag (2008-11-14). "CPL Holdings Group Acquires CAL". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
^ "The CPL Heritage". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05.
^ "Are video games a sport?". csmonitor.com. 2003-08-08. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
^ Don't Be Fooled (2010-04-02). "New CPL: Don't be fooled". Complexitygaming.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.

External links[]

Official website

[1] John Gaudiosi (2013-04-09). "CPL Founder Angel Munoz Explains Why He Left ESports And Launched Mass Luminosity". Forbes.com. Retrieved 1 Jul 2013.

[2] "Club FORUM Beograd | PROJECTS |". clubforum.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2012-08-29.

[3] "Cyberathlete professional league (CPL) is no More!". GameGuru. 17 Mar 2008. Retrieved 15 Aug 2013.

[4] Adrenaline Vault (2008-08-25). "Investment Group Acquires CPL". avault.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2011-02-22.

[5] "NewWorld and WoLong Ventures Announce Completion of CPL Acquisition". newworld.com. 2010-08-23. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-02-22.

[6] "NewWorld and WoLong Ventures Announce Completion of CPL and CAL Acquisition" (Press release). NewWorld. 2010-08-23. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-05-25.

[7] "China- Shenyang CPL Championship is Back!!!" (Press release). theCPL.com. 6 Jul 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-08-19. Retrieved 30 Aug 2013.

[8] "MarineKing wins CPL Invitational 2011". Retrieved 2014-01-28.

[9] "CPL 2011: group-stage details specified". Retrieved 2014-01-17.

[10] "沈阳CPL2011国际电子竞技明星邀请赛圆满落幕" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-17.

[11] "CPL World Tour 2007: Finals".

[12] Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-07-31). "The CPL Announces 2006 World Season". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.

[13] "MTV To Air CPL Finals". gotfrag.com. 2005-11-25. Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2010-09-11.

[14] Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-12-21). "Championship Finals Winners!". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.

[15] Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-09-15). "The CPL Announces Past 1v1 Champions". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-10.

[16] Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-12-21). "Championship Finals Winners!". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-05-11.

[17] Cyberathlete Professional League (2006-10-19). "CPL Announces Counter-Strike World Champions". The CPL Romania 2010. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-05-11.

[18] GotFrag (2008-11-14). "CPL Holdings Group Acquires CAL". thecpl.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2011-02-22.

[19] "The CPL Heritage". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05.

[autogenerated4-20] "Are video games a sport?". csmonitor.com. 2003-08-08. Retrieved 2012-06-04.

[21] Don't Be Fooled (2010-04-02). "New CPL: Don't be fooled". Complexitygaming.com. Retrieved 2012-08-29.

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