Competitors include legends in the sport, including Žydrūnas Savickas, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Aivars Šmaukstelis, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Ervin Katona, Dainis Zageris, Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Oleksii Novikov, Mikhail Koklyaev, Matjaz Belsak, J.F.

Caron, Vytautas Lalas, Kelvin de Ruiter, Laurence Shahlaei, Travis Ortmayer, Andrus Murumets, Pavlo Kordiyaka, Tom Stoltman, Rauno Heinla, Terry Hollands, Eddie Hall, Nick Best, Dennis Kohlruss and Martin Wildauer.

Initially in close partnership with IFSA, it quickly asserted its independence and has acted as a unifying force in the world of strength athletics, bringing together athletes from IFSA with those affiliated to the World's Strongest Man circuit, and having close cooperation with other major events such as Fortissimus.

"[1] As well as citing that all points will be accumulated for a Champions League Winner at the end of the year, it was stated in the main structure of the Champions League that rules will be done officially as usual in all IFSA competitions and that the top 3 will be directly placed in the IFSA World Championships.

In addition, feeder contests were introduced, one happening in Spain in December 2008 and a further event in Germany called the FIBO Strongman Classic in April 2009.

The best two athletes from this FIBO Classic 2009 edition were guaranteed into the Champions League, and it was postulated that this German event would be promoted to full SCL status in 2010.

Mostert stated that "The top 5 SCL athletes will have places in the Giants Live tour for qualifying at World's Strongest Man (WSM) 2009".

Some competitions bridged the divide, such as the Arnold Strongman Classic and more recently Fortissimus, but neither had the history, gravitas, or popular appeal of the World's Strongest Man.

[129] The event was organized by SCL in association with the Festival Hommes Forts-Warwick along with co-organizer Jean Fréchette.