Call of Duty League 2025 Schedule
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been out for almost a full month and has been receiving commercial and critical acclaim. With season 1 of Black Ops 6 releasing today, and bringing with it ranked play, the competitive season of Black Ops 6 is officially ready to kick off.
In addition to ranked play, there is also a brand new season of the Call of Duty League to look forward to. This won't be starting day and date with the release of season 1, but will begin shortly after. Activision announced what to expect from this CDL season, so let's take a deep dive into what's been announced.
Related Article: The BEST ARs in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Major Dates, Locations, & Hosts
There are four majors planned for the 2025 season. The same number as last year, but still one shy of early CDL seasons. As per usual, each major has a host team and will be comprised of multiple weeks of online qualifiers to determine seeding. The first two majors will include "minor tournaments" which we'll discuss in more detail below.
Major | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
Major 1 | Jan 30 - Fab 2 | Madrid |
Major 2 | Mar 20-23 | Dallas |
Major 3 | Apr 24-27 | Ft. Lauderdale |
Major 4 | TBA | TBA |
Major 1
Major 1 is being hosted by the Toronto Ultra, but will not take place in Toronto. It will be played in Madrid, Spain. This marks a return to Europe for the CDL which hasn't made the trip across the pond since the inaugural season in 2020. The online qualifiers are set to begin on December 8 and go until January 26 with the LAN tournament currently schedules for January 30 to February 2.
Major 2
CDL Major 2 is set to have it's online qualifiers from February 14 to March 16. The LAN tournament will be played from March 20 to 23. Major 2 will be hosted by OpTic Texas as the reigning champs look to defend their home turf in Dallas, Texas.
Major 3
Major 3 is going to be hosted by the Miami Heretics and the tournament will be played in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The online qualifier will be played from April 4 to April 20 and the LAN tournament will be held from April 24 to 27.
Major 4
Currently, major 4 has no details other than the online qualifier dates. They are currently planned for May 2 to May 18 with no dates given for the LAN tournament. It also has no team set to host it yet.
New Teams
The 2025 CDL season is bringing a few new teams with it. There are three new teams joining the CDL this year: Team Falcons, Cloud9, and G2. Team Falcons will be entering the league as their own entirely new franchise as the Vegas Falcons. G2 will be playing their first full season after purchasing the Minnesota Rokkr midway through the 2024 season. As of now, the Minnesota Rokkr branding is to remain. Cloud9 purchased the New York Subliners after CoD champs last year and will be entering as Cloud9 New York.
Online Qualifier Format Changes & Minor Tournament Additions
The online qualifiers will be a little different this year. Majors 1 and 2 will have 4 weeks of qualifiers with each team playing 7 matches. Majors 3 and 4 will have 3 weeks of qualifiers with each team playing 5 matches. This is less online matches than the typical CDL season, which is likely to be viewed as a positive thing by most.
The only significant change to the CDL format for 2025 is the introduction of minor tournaments. The minor tournaments are online tournaments that will be played at the halfway point of the Major 1 and Major 2 online qualifiers. They will feature a $20,000 winner-takes-all prize pool and, most importantly, a full 12-team single-elimination bracket with CDL points on the line to be awarded to the top 4 teams.
The minor tournaments are an attempt by the league to increase interest and fix fan fatigue and frustration regarding the number of online qualifier matches. Many fans have criticized the standard online qualifier structure that the CDL uses for being boring. An online single-elimination tournament isn't going to make the LCS start shaking in its boots, but it should be far more entertaining than additional weeks of online qualifiers.
Full details about the 2025 CDL season can found here.
Challengers
Call of Duty Challengers will be returning for the 2025 season and is set to begin November 23-24 with the first Challengers Cup. Elite tournaments will also be returning for North America and Europe. More details about Challengers can be found here.
