The Call of Duty League Championship is the pinnacle of COD esports. It’s where the best of the best take to the stage to secure the most coveted trophy in the Call of Duty space and to secure more than $1 million in prize money. The CDL Championship is what players compete all year for – it’s the ultimate aspiration for any COD pro player. It’s a dream for players to make it to the Call of Duty League Championship, and it’s preceded by an entire year of qualification matches and stages.
In typical CDL fashion, every Call of Duty League Championship takes place in a different location. It’s often backed by an organisation in the League, and in 2024, it’s being hosted in Texas by OpTic. With the best production value, the highest viewership, and the biggest prize pool in the space, the CDL Championship is the one event that every COD fan should be tuning into every year.
It’s easy to understand how the Call of Duty League Championship works, as the format has remained the same since 2020. It’s a relatively simple concept, so if you’re new to Call of Duty betting, you’ll find it to be a very welcoming tournament. While some esports tournaments boast complex, multi-stage schedules, the Call of Duty League Championship is one stage, one event, and it lasts just three days.
It all starts (and ends) with a double-elimination format – two brackets that accommodate eight teams in total. There are twelve teams in the Call of Duty League, but only the top eight will make it to COD Champs. In each bracket, both the ‘Winners’ and the ‘Losers’, a best-of-five format is applied, with the final fixture being a best-of-nine. It’s a beautifully simple but massively enjoyable tournament that boasts a wealth of esports betting opportunities.
Here’s the breakdown of the prize money for the Call of Duty League Championship (based on a total prize pool of $2.5m):
This year, the Call of Duty League Championship will run from the 18th to the 21st of July. It’s being hosted at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center and it’s being backed by OpTic Texas, one of the best organisations in the League.
The Subliners won the last CDL Championship in 2023
Every season, the bottom four teams in the Call of Duty League standings are ejected from the tournament, ultimately being refused entry to COD Champs. It’s one of the most competitive aspects of the League – nobody wants to miss the Call of Duty League Championship, after all. Here’s the line-up of teams that compete to make it into COD Champs:
It has been a tough year, with some moments of heartbreak mixed in with splashes of jubilation. For instance, Boston Breach broke the record for the longest losing streak, failing to secure a win in fifteen matches back to back. On the other hand, OpTic Texas won its first Major in more than 800 days. It has been a mixed bag of a year, and as ever, it remains difficult to pick one winner for the Call of Duty League Championship.
There are few Call of Duty tournaments more high-value than the CDL Championship. It’s arguably one of the biggest esports tournaments of the year, even if Call of Duty esports are beaten out by the likes of competitive Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and Dota 2. Regardless, the ultimate Call of Duty event of the year draws in hundreds of thousands of viewers and boasts countless esports betting opportunities.
For the duration of the tournament, Call of Duty markets and odds will be available on all top-tier esports betting sites. If you’re in the market to make a little money with Call of Duty, you should take the time to place a wager or two on the CDL Championship. As we’ve already highlighted, it’s an easy tournament to understand, so if you’re new to COD betting, you’ll quickly find yourself right at home.
Typically, most COD bettors will aim for the outright markets – match winners, for example. Traditionally, the diversity of the markets in the Call of Duty space is a relatively weak concept, and you won’t find too many special or exotic markets out there. This is owed mostly to the fact that Call of Duty is a relatively plain esports title, without too many unique areas to consider. If you’re looking for something a little more complex, look to the scoreline markets, under/over markets, or some low-end specials like ‘grenade kill’, or ‘first blood’.
Following the end of the Call of Duty World League Championship, the Call of Duty League Championship surfaced. While it might not seem like a huge change on the surface, it was a total redesign for what is essentially the world championship event for the Call of Duty esports environment.
In 2020, the inaugural event for the Call of Duty League Championship took place, being played on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare platform. It was a remarkable success, boasting a prize pool worth almost $5 million and introducing a franchised structure to the community. There were twelve teams, most of which hailed from North America and featured the best Call of Duty players in the world. These teams were put to the test over a long season that spanned several months before capping it all off with the Call of Duty League Championship.
Here are the past winners of the Call of Duty League Championship:
This year, there are high expectations for the four teams at the top of the table: Atlanta FaZe, New York Subliners, OpTic Texas, and Toronto Ultra. If anyone is looking for a safe bet, they’ll side with Atlanta FaZe. Toronto Ultra has been a stellar team for the last two years, but the squad just fails to clutch up when needed to secure the big win. OpTic Texas is relatively inconsistent this year, and some issues are brewing with the New York Subliners.
Of course, this is the Call of Duty League – and an underdog side could easily steal the trophy.
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