Call of Duty League Championship – Overview, Teams, Betting Odds & More

Every year, the Call of Duty League Championship takes place, standing firm as the biggest esports tournament in the history of the franchise. It has taken many forms over the last few years, but since 2020, it has simply been known as the CDL Championship. It’s the grandest stage of them all, boasting a multi-million dollar prize pool and featuring the talents of the world’s greatest Call of Duty players.

In 2022, the Call of Duty League Championship will be played out on the Call of Duty: Vanguard platform. While it’s one of the least popular Call of Duty titles to launch in recent years, the Call of Duty League itself remains relatively strong and valuable. In August of 2022, the CDL Championship will be held in Los Angeles, and it’ll mark the close of the 2022 season, with one team being crowned the ultimate victor.

Read on through this full guide to the Call of Duty League Championship. If you’re interested in COD betting, we’re sure you’ll find it to be a seriously valuable resource.

Call of Duty League Championship Breakdown

CDL Championship Betting Odds

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):

  • 1st: $1,200,000
  • 2nd: $650,000
  • 3rd: $300,000
  • 4th: $150,000
  • 5th – 6th: $75,000
  • 7th – 8th: $25,000

This year, the COD Championship event will run from the 4th to the 7th of August and will be hosted at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. There are tickets available for purchase through callofdutyleague.com, and they consist of either a full, three-day pass or a ticket to gain access to just the final fixtures on Sunday.

Call of Duty League Championship Teams

Call of Duty League Championship

Atlanta FaZe is the reigning champion

For the bottom four teams in the Call of Duty League standings, there is no way to gain entry to COD Champs. It’s unfortunate, but it has remained the same for several years, and only the top eight teams will be able to make the cut. As of July 2022, the following teams are guaranteed entry to the COD Champs tournament, given their placement in the standings:

  • Atlanta FaZe
  • OpTic Texas

If we take a look at the state of affairs at the tail end of the regular season of the Call of Duty League, we can make further predictions. These teams are the ones most likely to make it to the Call of Duty League Championship:

  • Seattle Surge
  • London Royal Ravens
  • Boston Breach
  • Toronto Ultra
  • LA Thieves
  • Los Angeles Guerrillas

At the bottom of the Call of Duty League standings sit (at the time of writing) Rokkr, Mutineers, Subliners, and Paris Legion. Sadly, these teams haven’t performed as well as they could have this season, particularly Paris Legion, a team that had claimed just two wins in the entire year by the start of July.

Call of Duty League Championship Betting

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 CSGO, 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’.

Check out the live odds below:

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History of the Call of Duty League Championship

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:

  • 2020: Dallas Empire
  • 2021: Atlanta FaZe

There are high expectations for Atlanta FaZe in the 2022 CDL Champs tournament. However, OpTic Texas, a team newly formed for the 2022 season, could snatch the ultimate prize. It’ll all begin on the 4th of August when eight teams descend upon Los Angeles to compete in the Call of Duty League Championship.