This weekend, the Call of Duty League Championship will take place in Las Vegas, welcoming eight of the best COD esports teams in the business to the grandest CDL stage of the year. It’s a high-stakes event that boasts a massive prize pool, but of course, only one team can see the lion’s share of that and lift the coveted trophy.
Let’s take a close look at those eight teams and determine which of them has the best chance of winning this year’s Call of Duty League Championship.
Which Team Will Win COD Champs 2026?
It might come as no surprise, but most folks think it’ll be a battle between OpTic Texas and the LA Thieves in the grand final. Those COD Champs predictions might not be too far off the mark.
For instance, Polymarket users have the LA Thieves with a 52% chance to win the entire tournament. The market is mixed, and the likes of G2 Minnesota, Riyadh Falcons, Miami Heretics, and OpTic Texas all rank high in the prediction stakes, but as the weekend kicks off, the gaps will start to widen.
If I were a betting man, I’d be putting my money on OpTic Texas at this Call of Duty League Championship. It’s the perfect opportunity for the organization to pull off the impossible and secure a threepeat of COD Champs wins, having also lifted the trophy in 2025 and 2024.
This has been a stellar season for OpTic Texas, even if it took the team until the final CDL Major to claim a chip. The team ended the regular season atop the standings and enters COD Champs as a frontrunner, but the LA Thieves are snapping at their heels.
Bizarrely, according to Polymarket’s rankings, FaZe Vegas and Toronto KOI have the lowest chances to win COD Champs.
The opening matches are set to be electric, but the leaders will be outlined very early on, I feel. We could see the LA Thieves pushed down into the lower bracket to make a bold run, but that’s dependent on the Riyadh Falcons, a team with a recent major disruption to the roster, firing on all cylinders in that opening series.
Pred was benched just days ago and replaced by Mohammed ‘Alluka’ Bindal. In the hours that followed the news, it was claimed by some on social media that Pred was fostering a toxic team environment again, which led to him being dropped ahead of COD Champs.
It’s extremely easy to see OpTic Texas making at least the grand final, but who meets them there is up in the air. I think it boils down to either OpTic Texas vs. LA Thieves or FaZe Vegas, with the latter option presenting one hell of a Call of Duty El Clasíco.
What are your predictions for this season’s Call of Duty League Championship? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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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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