The Esports World Cup Foundation has unveiled the format, schedule, prize pool, and qualification pathway for this year’s Call of Duty tournament. The super-sized event, which is set to land in Riyadh in August, boasts a staggering prize pool worth $1.8 million, which will drop mere weeks after this season’s COD Champs event, which features a similar prize.
It’s the single-most lucrative period for Call of Duty’s esports ecosystem, and last year, both prizes were snagged by OpTic in an historic, unprecedented sweep.
Call of Duty Esports World Cup Event Goes Insane
The Esports World Cup Foundation recently announced everything you’d want to know about Black Ops 7 at the upcoming event. It’s set to run from August 5th to August 9th, during which time, 16 of the world’s most capable Call of Duty teams will battle through a group stage to make it to the playoffs.
Here’s the necessary information about the format:
Group Stage:
- 16 teams (two groups)
- Double-elimination bracket
- Best-of-five format
- Top four teams per group enter playoffs
Playoffs:
- Eight teams
- Single-elimination bracket
- Best-of-seven format
- Grand finals feature best-of-nine format
The qualification path for the Esports World Cup is relatively simple in the Call of Duty space. There’s a spot reserved for OpTic as the defending champion, and the remaining eleven Call of Duty League organizations will find a place in Riyadh. Of course, they might not fly the exact banner that they do in the CDL, but it’ll be close.
Then there are three spots organized via the Call of Duty Challengers Finals, and one spot reserved for the EWC LCQ.
It’s a highly competitive year, and we’ve already seen two champions crowd between Major 1 and Major 2 of the Call of Duty League. First up was Paris Gentle Mates, a team that quickly fell short in subsequent bouts. Recently, FaZe Vegas claimed the second Major trophy of the year, beating OpTic Texas to the punch in the grand final at DreamHack Birmingham.
It marked the second time that OpTic Texas found a second-place finish this season. In the latter months of last season, the squad claimed both the COD Champs and EWC trophies, and remains the favourite to replicate that performance this year.
Are your expectations high for the Esports World Cup? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that the COD League is ‘financially stable’
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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