2016 will mark an important threshold for Chinese Counter-Strike as nearly $100,000 in prize money will be doled out via the domestic CS:GO Super League and the international China Cup.

Hosted by the China Games Arena, the CS:GO Super League will offer 290,000 CNY (~$44,200) to domestic competition in a significant step-up from previous years in terms of prize-pool and scope of play.

This first phase of the CS:GO Super League will be a qualifier that will run from March 24-May12 and features 128 teams competing across a single elimination, best-of-three format until eight teams remain standing. Registration for this phase lasts from March 1-10.



CyberZen are one of the eight teams receiving a direct invite to the CSL qualifier

The 128 teams will be broken down into groups of eight and each group will have one invited professional team from the Chinese region, thereby meaning that 120 teams will register.

The invited teams so far are:

TyLoo TyLoo CyberZen CyberZen AllGamers AllGamers eFuture eFuture Born of Fire Born of Fire TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

The winner of each group (eight teams total, but not to be confused with the table listed above) then advances into the CSL first season which will run from June 2-September 4.

The regular season will feature weekly games in a double round robin system, amounting to 14 games played for each team. The top four teams will qualify for an offline final tentatively schedule for September 17-18. The prize distribution of the 290,000 Yuan for this final is as follows:

1. - RMB 200,000元 (~$30,500) + Invitation to China Cup + Championship Rings

2. - RMB 50,000元 (~$7,630) + Invitation to China Cup

3. - RMB 30,000元 (~$4,580)

4. - RMB 10,000元 (~$1,525)

The top two finishing China teams will thus earn invites to the China Cup, which will take place from December 10-11 in an offline venue and format.

The China Cup will offer an additional 350,000 CNY (~$53,430) and feature the aforementioned two Chinese teams, one Asian team from outside of China, and a European team. It is not yet specified how the Asian team or European team will qualify.

The prize-pool distribution for the China Cup is:

1. - RMB 200,000元 (~$30,500)

2. - RMB 70,000元 (~$10,685)

3. - RMB 50,000元 (~$7,630)

4. - RMB 30,000元 (~$4,580)

Registration for the Sino-inclusive CSL first season qualifier kicks off today and there will no doubt be more forthcoming news that specifies the nature of the offline finals for both the CSL first season and the China Cup.

The official website for both events can be found here (in Chinese).

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter