Call of Duty League (CDL) — 2026 Schedule

How the Call of Duty League works

The Call of Duty League (CDL) is Activision's franchised pro league: 12 teams playing 4v4 on that year's new Call of Duty. The 2026 season was played on Black Ops 7. It ran from December 5, 2025 to July 19, 2026, and four new team identities joined: FaZe Vegas, Riyadh Falcons, G2 Minnesota and Toronto KOI. Maps were played in Hardpoint, Search and Destroy, and a new mode called Overload.

The season had four Majors. Before each one, teams played online qualifiers (five to six weeks before the first two Majors, three weeks before the last two), and those results decided Major seeding. Two 12-team single-elimination Minor tournaments added more matches. Under the CDL sits Challengers, the open competitive tier. It held Open events at every Major and sent four teams to the Pro-Am at Major III, the first Pro-Am since 2023.

How the 2026 CDL season played out

• Major I (Dallas, January 29 to February 1): won by Paris Gentle Mates.
• Major II (Birmingham, UK, March 27-29): the first 10-team Major, with play-in matches for seeds seven to ten. Won by FaZe Vegas.
• Major III (Atlanta, May): the Pro-Am Major with Challengers teams. Won by the Los Angeles Thieves.
• Major IV (Paris, June 25-28): won by OpTic Texas.
• Champs (Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas, July 16-19): FaZe Vegas beat OpTic Texas 5-2. Simp was Finals MVP, and Scrap was named Season MVP.

When does the 2027 CDL season start?

As of early October 2026, Activision hasn't announced dates for the 2027 season. The league switches to each year's new release, and the next one is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. It launches on October 23, 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch 2, and pre-orders get campaign early access from October 16. For comparison, Black Ops 7 came out on November 14, 2025 and the 2026 season started three weeks later on December 5, with Challengers starting the same weekend. Expect the 2027 schedule, Major host cities and any rule changes to be announced in the weeks around the Modern Warfare 4 launch. This page will list matches as soon as they're scheduled.

What to watch during the CDL off-season

The off-season is when rosters change, so team announcements and player moves are the main storyline until the new season. Once Modern Warfare 4 launches, many CDL pros stream the new game every day, which is the earliest look at how competitive play might go. You can rewatch the 2026 Majors and the full Champs final on the league's YouTube channel. If you need live action now, VALORANT Champions and League of Legends Worlds are both running in October and have their own pages on this site.

Where to watch the CDL and what time it's on

CDL matches are free on the league's official YouTube and Twitch channels, with full match VODs on YouTube. Majors held in the US and Champs play on North American time, so weekend matches are easy to watch live from the US. European Majors, like Birmingham and Paris in 2026, are five to six hours ahead of ET, so those days start earlier in the US morning.

Tips for following the CDL

Check the official CDL announcements around launch week for the 2027 Major schedule, and follow Challengers if you want to see future pros early: Challengers teams earned their way into the 2026 Pro-Am through Open events and Elite seasons. Once the season starts, online qualifier matches count toward Major seeding, so the weeks before each Major matter more than they look.