Call of Duty esports: the game and its pro scene

What is Call of Duty esports?

Call of Duty is Activision's series of shooters, and Call of Duty esports revolves around the Call of Duty League (CDL). In recent seasons, the league has played on the latest entry of the series: the 2026 season, for instance, used Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, released in November 2025 and developed by Treyarch, Raven Software and other Activision studios.

In a pro match, two teams play three different modes, each on its own map, in a best-of-five series where every game won counts as one point. In Hardpoint, teams fight to hold a zone that moves every sixty seconds, and the first to 250 points, or the team leading when time runs out, wins. Search and Destroy has no respawns: one side tries to plant a bomb at one of two sites while the other defends, and six round wins take the game.

The third mode varies from one game to the next; in the 2026 season, it was Overload.

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How does the Call of Duty League work?

The CDL is made up of professional teams that compete together across the whole season, several of them named after a city, such as Toronto KOI.

In recent seasons, the year has been organised around four Majors. Before each one, online qualifiers let teams collect CDL Points and set the seeding, then the Major itself is played on LAN; online Minor tournaments add more points between Majors. The points race decides who goes on to Championship Weekend at the end of the season.

Below the league, Call of Duty Challengers is the route for up-and-coming teams, with Challengers Cups, Opens held alongside the Majors and Pro-Am events where they meet CDL teams. The format is revised every year, so callofdutyleague.com is where to check the current one.

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What are the biggest Call of Duty tournaments?

The Majors are the high points of the regular season: LAN events that recent seasons have taken to cities in North America and Europe, sometimes hosted by one of the league's teams. Majors have ended with a grand final played as a best of seven.

Championship Weekend, known as Champs, closes the season and decides who becomes Call of Duty League champion; the 2026 edition took place in Las Vegas, hosted by FaZe Vegas.

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How can you watch the Call of Duty League?

The CDL streams its matches live on YouTube and Twitch, and fans can also follow them through co-streams and watch parties. The official site, callofdutyleague.com, gathers the league's news and the CDL Points standings.

Majors and Champs are also played in front of live, ticketed audiences.

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