Championship Gaming Series® (CGS), the only worldwide professional video gaming league, today announced its 2008 Qualifier and Draft events for the United Kingdom and Europe. Top UK and European gamers will compete for a share of more than $53,000 in prize money and the attention of CGS General Managers who will be evaluating and choosing the best gaming talent for their respective teams.

The events will take place on May 16-18 at Omega Sektor, Europe’s premier game center, in Birmingham, England. General Managers for the league’s UK teams, Birmingham Salvo and London Mint, as well as General Managers for the league’s European teams, Berlin Allianz and Stockholm Magnetik, will be scouting players at the events to decide which gamers they will draft to their respective 2008 team rosters.

The Qualifier events will include tournaments in each of the league’s official games, Counter-Strike™:Source™, FIFA 08, Forza Motorsport™ 2, and Dead or Alive® 4. The top eight UK finishers and the top eight European finishers in each game will receive prize payouts totaling more than $53,000.

On the evening of May 17, the General Managers will each announce the identities of one Franchise Player and up to four Protected Players from their respective 2007 teams who will be re-signed for the 2008 season.

After the competitions end on May 18, at the UK Draft and the European Draft, the General Managers will face off and choose the remaining players to fill their ten-player team rosters. On June 26-29, these new CGS UK and European teams will fly to Los Angeles for an all-expenses-paid trip where they will compete separately on television at CGS Studios in the 2008 UK Final and the 2008 European Final.

The winner of the UK Final and the European Final will each earn a berth to return to Los Angeles from July 14-28 and compete against the best teams from the rest of the world at the CGS 2008 World Final. Teams at the World Final will compete for $1,000,000 in prize money and the top team will receive $500,000.

To register for the 2008 CGS UK Qualifier or the 2008 CGS European Qualifier, visit the CGS website at thecgs.com.
CGS events are broadcast to more than 350 million potential viewers worldwide by BSkyB’s Sky One, Sky Two and Sky HD in the UK, DIRECTV’s The 101 in the U.S., ESPN STAR Sports in Asia, Sky in Brazil and Mexico, and DIRECTV throughout the remainder of Latin America, and across Continental Europe via broadcast partners to be announced shortly.