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Champion comes from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio ‘combatant in a duel’, from Frankish *kampijō ‘fighter’, ultimately from Latin campus ‘field’.

1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcampus¹‘a plain, field’
2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kamp¹‘field, battlefield’reconstructed
3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kampijan¹‘to battle’reconstructedderivative of *kamp
4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kampijō¹‘combat soldier’reconstructedderivative of *kampijan
5. Frankishc. 250–700*kampijō¹‘fighter’reconstructed
6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500campio¹‘combatant in a duel’
7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400champiun¹
8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500champioun¹
9. Englishearliest quotation 1938champion¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English champion
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1938, Puritan Cordage Mills, Take a Lesson from a Lily: “Pictured above is an actual photograph of a Regal…”.