Call of Duty League announces 2026 event locations and format changes
The Call of Duty League (CDL) has revealed its 2026 season schedule, including event locations and a major format change.
Call of Duty League 2026The season will feature four Majors across North America and Europe, culminating in Championship Weekend in Las Vegas.
Major 1: Dallas, Texas (Jan 29–Feb 1) — hosted by defending champions OpTic Texas.
Major 2: Birmingham, UK (Mar 27–29) — CDL returns to the UK for the first time in five years. This event introduces a round-robin qualifier, with the top six teams advancing to the main bracket.
Major 3: Atlanta, Georgia — a Pro-Am featuring Challengers teams competing against the 12 CDL franchises (date TBC).
Major 4: Paris, France (Jun 25–28) — the final Major before Championship Weekend.
Championship Weekend: Las Vegas, Nevada (Jul 16–19) — hosted by FaZe Vegas.
Additionally, Black Ops 7 will appear at the Esports World Cup 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a separate event.
The 2026 CDL season also sees some notable changes to gameplay and tournament structure.
Control has been removed as a game mode, replaced by a new objective mode called Overload, which will join Hardpoint and Search and Destroy in the competitive rotation.
Each Major will feature online qualifiers to determine seeding for the LAN events, with Major 1 having five weeks of qualifiers, Major 2 six weeks, and Majors 3 and 4 three weeks each.
For the first time in league history, Major 2 will use a round-robin qualifying format, with the top six teams advancing to the main bracket and the remaining three attempting to secure their spot through Play-In matches.
Major 3 will also mark the return of the Pro-Am Classic, where the top two Challengers teams from the Major 2 Open, along with the winners of North America and Europe’s Elite Season 3, will compete against the 12 CDL franchises.