Cyberathlete Professional League
The Cyber Athlete Professional League (short CPL ) was on 27 June 1997 as one of the first computer game - leagues founded by Angel Munoz. The CPL was one of the most professional tournament organizers in the field of e-sports . According to official figures, over 45,000 players took part in the 36 main events during its existence and played for prize money totaling over 2,000,000 US dollars .
The CPL succeeded in getting media partners such as MTV or CNN enthusiastic about their tournaments and thus playing computer games on a professional level. The tens of thousands of dollars in prize money per event and game were largely funded by companies in the electronics and computer industries.
The climax of the Cyberathlete Professional League was the CPL World Tour in 2005. In 2006, the main sponsor, Intel, separated from the CPL, whereupon they had to cancel the 2006 CPL World Tour. Although it was AMD presented as the new main sponsor, but the CPL had already lost this time its leadership position.
May 2008 the Cyberathelete Professional League finally ended the tournament. The pioneer of the computer game competition had recently lost massive support from the scene. The CPL was accused of having paid out prize money with long delays or not at all. The situation escalated when the clan association G7 Teams boycotted the CPL Winter 2007, the last official CPL event.
Previous tournaments and winners
- 1997
- The FRAG
- Quake I: Tom "Gollum" Dawson
- 1998
- QUESTION 2
- Quake II: Dan "Rix" Hammans
- The CPL Event
- Quake II: Dan "Rix" Hammans
- 1999
- Extreme annihilation
- Quake II: Kurt "Immortal" Shimada
- QUESTION 3
- Quake III: Amir "hakeem" Haleem
- GroundZero
- Quake III: Mark "Wombat" Larsen
- Quake II women: Anne "Lilith" Chang
- Descent 3 World Championships
- Descent III: Chris "fatal" Bond
- 2000
- Gateway Country Challenge
- Midtown Madness 2: John Michael Benedict
- Razer CPL Event
- Quake III: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
- QUESTION 4
- Quake III TDM: Clan Capitol
- Quake III ladies: Cary "Succubus" Szeto
- Babbage's CPL event
- Quake III: John "ZeRo4" Hill
- Quake III ladies: Cary "Succubus" Szeto
- Counter-Strike: Team e9
- 2001
- CPL Pentium 4 Invitational
- Counter-Strike: Team X3
- Speakeasy CPL event
- Counter-Strike: Team X3 Blue
- CPL 4-Year Anniversary Event
- Quake I: Harley "HarlsoM" Gray
- CPL World Championship Event
- Counter-Strike: Ninjas in pajamas
- Alien vs. Predator 2: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
- 2002
- Nostromo Exhibition Tournament
- Quake III: John "ZeRo4" Hill
- CPL Pentium 4 Summer Championship 2002
- Counter-Strike: SK Gaming
- CPL Pentium 4 Winter Event 2002
- UT2003: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
- Counter-Strike: Team 3D
- Team Fortress Classic: Vindicate
- 2003
- Yahoo! Digital Master Game Tournament
- GP4, Serious Sam, Scrabble: Maria Rubin
- CPL Pentium 4 Summer 2003 Championship
- Counter-Strike: SK Gaming
- CPL Pentium 4 Winter 2003 Championship
- Counter-Strike: SK Gaming
- Halo: Xeno
- 2004
- CPL Extreme Summer Championships
- Counter-Strike: EYEBALLERS
- Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
- UT2004 TDM: SK Gaming
- Halo: Team Wat?
- Call of Duty: United 5
- CPL Extreme Winter Championships
- Counter-Strike: Team NoA
- Doom 3: Yang "RocketBoy" Meng
- Painkiller: Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
- Day of Defeat: Highball
- 2005
- CPL Winter Championships 2005
- Counter-Strike: SK Gaming
- Quake 4: Anton "Cooller" Singow
- CPL World Tour 2005
- Painkiller: Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
- 2006
- CPL Winter Championships 2006
- Counter-Strike: fnatic
- Quake III: Paul "czm" Nelson
- 2007
- CPL Winter Championships 2007
- Counter-Strike: Team X3O
- Counter-Strike: Source: Team XFX
- Halo 3: Thomas "OGRE2" Ryan
CPL World Tour
In 2005, the CPL entered new territory with the idea of a one million US dollar CPL World Tour . From March to November 2005, a monthly Painkiller tournament with prize money of US $ 50,000 was held in nine different metropolises , on which one could collect world ranking points. The four best players in the tournament automatically qualified for the following World Tour stop and were paid the flight and entry fee by the CPL.
In December 2005 the CPL World Tour finally ended with the Grand Finals. In New York City , the 32 players who had collected the most points during the tour were up for prize money of half a million US dollars. In the final, model e-athlete Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel prevailed against the Dutchman Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager . Both won prize money of around US $ 250,000 as part of the CPL World Tour.
In 2006, Intel and Nvidia dropped out as sponsors of the World Tour to organize their own World Tour: the World Series of Video Games . The CPL then broke off the planned CPL World Tour 2006 and announced that it would work together with the WSVG.
World Tour Stops 2005
CPL World Tour Stops 2005 ( Painkiller ) stop place winner #1 Istanbul , Turkey 
Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
# 2 Barcelona , Spain 
Stephan "SteLam" Lammert
# 3 Rio de Janeiro , Brazil Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
# 4 Stockholm , Sweden Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
# 5 Dallas , USA 
Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
# 6 London , UK Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
# 7 Singapore Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
#8th Milan , Italy Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
# 9 Santiago de Chile , Chile 
Alexander "Ztrider" Ingarv
Finals New York City , USA Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
Final placements of the Grand Finals
CPL World Tour Finals 2005 ( Painkiller ) placement player clan Prize money 1st place Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
US $ 150,000 2nd place Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
fnatic US $ 100,000 3rd place 
Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone
US $ 70,000 4th Place Benjamin "Zyz" Bohrmann
SK Gaming US $ 50,000 5th place Vincenzo "booms" Daurelio
play.it US $ 35,000 6th place Alexander "Ztrider" Ingarv
fnatic US $ 25,000 7th place Mark "Wombat" Larsen
Team 3D US $ 17,500 8th place Nicola "ForresT" Geretti
play.it US $ 12,500 Top 12 Brian "Zen" Grapatin
US $ 6,250 Top 12 Carlos "dj" cid
Check 6 US $ 6,250 Top 12 
Andrew "gellehsak" Ryder
fnatic US $ 6,250 Top 12 Stephan "SteLam" Lammert
SK Gaming US $ 6,250 Top 16 
Gareth "GaRpY" Marshall
TEK9 US $ 3,750 Top 16 Jared "cha0ticz" Cugno
Check 6 US $ 3,750 Top 16 
Alexei "LeXeR" Nesterow
play.it US $ 3,750 Top 16 Sean "daler" Price
Team 3D US $ 3,750 Top 24 
Teppei "SIGUMA" Terabe
Top 24 
Christian "CLains" Lains
TEK9 Top 24 
Iisakki "beam" Ahonen
Team FirstCore Top 24 Stefan "maddog" Timmermans
Serious gaming Top 24 Riccardo "Vicious" Zanocchio
play.it Top 24 Fredrik "aim" Edesater
Serious gaming Top 24 David "Zaccubus" Treacy
4Kings Top 24 Viktor "worre" Liljeblad
Team Dignitas Top 32 Jake "Mojo" Valianes
Top 32 Josh "MJOLNIR" Carlson
Top 32 Christian "deatz" Dotzki
Top 32 Corbin "cbnz" Crnkovic
Top 32 Jeffrey "Thump4" McShane
Top 32 Matt "ZoD" Brogan
Top 32 Antti "rat" Tolvanen
Team FirstCore Top 32 Geoffrey "geoff" Akers
iDemise
Web links
- official homepage
- Results up to 2006 (English) ( Memento from December 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )