Elite (competition level)

Elite
Founded	August 6, 2011
Number of teams	32
Level on pyramid	1
Promotion to	N/A
Relegation to	Babby
Events	Summer Cup, Winter Cup, World Cup
Current champions	/pw/
Most championships	/mlp/, /fit/ and /u/ (2 titles)
2024 4chan Summer Cup

"Elite" is also an adjective used to describe teams which have never been relegated from Elite level. For more information see Elite (teams).

Elite refers to the primary level of 4chan Cup competition. There are two Elite competitions in each annual cycle, the Summer Cup and Winter Cup. At the conclusion of the 2024 4chan Winter Cup there have been twenty-six Elite tournaments, the first of which was the 2011 4chan Summer Cup.

The Elite level was at one time the only competition level in the 4chan Cup. With the Third Founding and a larger number of competing teams it came to be supplemented by the Babby level which has its tournaments in Spring and Autumn of each year.

Teams

A total of 69 teams have competed at the Elite level since its inception. The last team to have appeared in every Elite cup was /mu/ before failing to promote from the 2017 4chan Autumn Babby Cup. All teams since the 2015 4chan Winter Cup have been relegated at some point.

Champions

Of the 70 teams in the cup, a total of 18 teams have been crowned elite cup champions, with 3 of them as two time champions. A fourth team was a two time champion, but controversy had stripped one of the titles.

Events

There have been twenty-six events at Elite level, including the 2021 4chan World Cup. The first Elite cup was the 2011 4chan Summer Cup, which featured 16 teams competing in a double elimination bracket. The following event, the 2012 4chan Winter Cup, took on the same format. The 2012 4chan Summer Cup was the first Elite event to use a group stage and single elimination bracket knockout stage, a format which has remained to the present day.

#	Tournament	Platform	Number of competing teams	Number of matches	Winner	Rotation	Number of goals	Average goals per game
1	2011 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2011	16	31	/a/	n/a	88	2.84
2	2012 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2012	16	31	/k/	n/a	113	3.65
3	2012 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2012	24	48	/sp/a	10/8	185	3.85
4	2013 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2013	32	64	/sp/	16	254	3.97
5	2013 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2013	32	64	/wg/	16	203	3.17
6	2014 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2014	32	64	/trv/	16	192	3.09
7	2014 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2014	32	64	/mu/	16	125	1.95
8	2015 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2014	32	64	/tg/	16	198	2.95
9	2015 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2015	32	64	/mlp/	16	263	3.80
10	2016 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2016	32	64	/fit/	16	281	4.41
11	2016 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2016	32	64	/mlp/	16	324	5.06
12	2017 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2017	32	64	/fit/	16	190	2.97
13	2017 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2017	32	64	/lgbt/	16	202	3.16
14	2018 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2017	32	64	/u/	16	208	3.25
15	2018 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2017	32	64	/vg/	16	235	3.67
16	2019 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2016	32	64	/gd/	16	409	6.39
17	2019 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2018	32	64	/cm/	16	245	3.83
18	2020 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2018	32	64	/pol/	16	234	3.66
19	2020 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2019	32	64	/u/	16	264	4.13
20	2021 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2019	32	64	/n/	16	240	3.75
–	2021 4chan Summer Cupb	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
21	2021 4chan World Cup	PES 2021	64	128	/s4s/	0	528	4.13
22	2022 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2021	32	64	/biz/	16	262	4.09
23	2022 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2021	32	64	/v/	16	233	3.64
24	2023 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2021	32	64	/vst/	16	262	4.09
25	2023 4chan Summer Cup	PES 2019	32	64	/m/	16	262	4.09
26	2024 4chan Winter Cup	PES 2019	32	64	/pw/	16	243	3.80

^a: Title later vacated. No winner in lieu.
^b: This cup was cancelled.