Call of Duty Global Pro League Begins Tomorrow in Columbus, OH

Written by Brandon Hofer on April 20, 2017

News: The beginning of the Global Pro League is tomorrow and it will continue over the next 10 weeks to see who is the best Call of Duty team.

The first-ever Call of Duty World League Global Pro League starts tomorrow. Over the next 10 weeks the top 16 Call of Duty professional teams from around the globe will face-off across two stages of competition, each offering $700,000 in prize purses. Placements in the Global Pro League will dictate seeding in the grand finale of the Call of Duty year, the Call of Duty World League Championship, where another $1.5M will be on the line, bringing the total CWL prizing to $4M for the year.

Through the next five weekends, 16 professional teams will descend on the MLG Arena in Columbus, OH, for the Stage 1 competitions. In addition to the $700,000 payout, the teams will be competing for seeding heading into the Stage 2 contests starting in June in Columbus. The 16 teams hail from North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

“The competition across the CWL this year has been incredible,” said Rob Kostich, EVP and general manager of Call of Duty, Activision. “The Global Pro League is bringing together the top teams to battle head-to-head not only for some serious prize money at each stage, but also to claim their spot for the biggest competition of the year, the CWL Champs. The stakes only go up from here.”

The groups and schedule for Stage 1 contests:

Team EnVyUs, Splyce, Cloud 9, Mindfreak – April 21 - 23

FaZe Clan, Rise Nation, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses – April 28 - 30

eUnited, Luminosity Gaming, Millenium, Epsilon – May 5 - 7

OpTic Gaming, Red Reserve, Enigma6 Group, Elevate – May 12 - 14

Playoffs of the top eight teams – May 21 - 23

The teams secured their spot for the Stage 1 Global Pro League by earning CWL Pro Points through months of intense Call of Duty competition. Featuring group play, the Stage 1 action will unfold over the next five weekends as teams compete in double round-robin competition and look to continue the action into Stage 2 competition starting June 29.

The top two teams from each group move on to the playoffs and automatically qualify for Stage 2 of the Global Pro league. The bottom team in each group will need to battle their way back into Stage 2 through relegation matches. More information on the full seeding and schedule can be found at http://www.callofduty.com/cwl.

Both Stages of the Global Pro League lead up to the biggest Call of Duty World League tournament of the year, the 2017 CWL Championship. The 32 best teams worldwide will qualify to compete in pool play, with the top half advancing into the Championship double-elimination bracket for their share of the $1.5 million event prize pool. In addition to the Global Pro League, teams will have one last chance to qualify for the CWL Championships with regional LANs in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. More details, including ticket information will be announced soon.

For those interested in attending the five weekends of Call of Duty esports competition in Columbus, tickets are on sale now at mlg.tv. Fans can also catch all of the matches streamed live via Infinite Warfare on PS4 through the in-game viewer and mlg.tv/callofduty. Do you plan on watching the Call of Duty action this weekend? Tell us what you think below.