Call of Duty League unveils 2026 event locations and format

The Call of Duty League (CDL) has shared details surrounding the locations of its events as well as format changes for the 2026 season.

Over the course of the year, four Major tournaments will take place across North America and Europe, with Championship Weekend returning to close out the year.

The opening Major of the 2026 CDL season takes place in Dallas, Texas, from January 29th to February 1st, with defending champions OpTic Texas on hosting duties.

For the first time in five years, the league will then return to the UK as part of DreamHack Birmingham from March 27th to 29th.

Major three will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, with a date yet to be revealed. This particular event will be a Pro-Am where Challengers teams will compete against the 12 CDL franchises.

The fourth and final Major of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 season heads back to Europe from June 25th to 28th, with an event taking place in Paris, France.

The sixth edition of CDL Championship Weekend will be hosted by the rebranded FaZe Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, from July 16th to 19th.

In addition to the four Majors and Championship Weekend, Black Ops 7 will feature at the Esports World Cup 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a separate event.

The most significant change to the CDL format is the removal of Control as its third game mode. Taking its place is Overload, a new objective game mode that will feature alongside Hardpoint and Search and Destroy.

Each Major will feature online qualifiers to determine seeding for the LAN tournaments. Major 1 will have five weeks, Major 2 will have six, and the final two Majors will have three weeks.

For the first time in CDL history, Major 2 will use a round-robin qualifying tournament with the top ten teams advancing to Birmingham. The top six teams from the round-robin phase will qualify for the main bracket, while the remaining three will look to qualify through Play-In matches.

Major 3 marks the return of the Pro Am Classic. The top two Challengers teams from the Major 2 Open and the winners of North America and Europe’s Elite Season 3 will qualify.

For 2026, the CDL Challengers circuit has undergone an overhaul. The league will host an Open LAN event at each of the four Majors alongside four Elite seasons for each region.

The Middle East will also feature in the Challengers circuit, integrating with Europe to provide players from the region with a platform to compete.

The first online Challengers Cup is set to take place on December 12th, acting as the first chance for amateur teams to compete in an official competition.