The first Major of the 2025 Call of Duty League (CDL) is set to take place later today (January 30th) in Madrid, Spain.

Ahead of the event, Esports Insider has created a brief guide to everything there is to know about the CDL 2025 Major 1 and its wider impact on the Call of Duty esports ecosystem.

Major 1 is the first of five LAN events taking place on the Call of Duty League calendar and sees all 12 franchises competing on the stage for a chance to earn CDL Points and a share of the prize money.

All 12 franchises have been placed in a double-elimination bracket based on seeding determined during three weeks of online qualifiers and a Minor tournament.

The top eight teams begin the tournament in the winner’s bracket while the bottom four are placed in the elimination bracket.

Each match will use the V1.2 ruleset developed by the Call of Duty League and representatives from each franchise.

The event will use a best-of-five (BO5) format up until the Grand Finals where a best-of-seven (BO7) will determine the eventual winner.

Unlike previous years, the Call of Duty League hasn’t revealed the total prize pool for Major 1 2025. The opening event of the 2024 CDL season featured a prize pool of $375,000 (~£301,563).

The top eight teams will earn CDL Points that will be used to determine seeding for the second Major of the season taking place in Allen, Texas.

You can watch all of the action from Major 1 on the official Call of Duty League YouTube channel. Thanks to an exclusivity deal between the platform and the league, all matches are broadcast exclusively on YouTube.

The first matches get underway on January 30th with the tournament concluding on February 2nd. The first match of the day will begin at 3 PM GMT.

The Grand Final is scheduled to take place on February 2nd at 7.30 PM GMT.

After a turbulent start to the 2025 season, fan-favourites OpTic Texas are the top seed heading into the opening Major of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

In December 2024, the franchise revealed Amer ‘Pred Zulbeari left the team resulting in the return of Cuyler ‘Huke’ Garland to the starting lineup.

Another team that struggled to begin the season on the front foot was two-time CDL champions Atlanta FaZe. After ending the online qualifiers in sixth place, the team managed to win the CDL’s inaugural Minor tournament earning enough points to avoid starting in the elimination bracket.

The Carolina Royal Ravens were the early frontrunners during the online qualifiers. Achieving a second-place finish in the Minor cemented the franchise as the third seed. Moreover, all eyes will be on Toronto Ultra, which is the official host of the first CDL Major event of 2025.

Despite being based in Canada, Toronto Ultra is owned by OverActive Media, a company that has popular Spanish organisation Movistar KOI in its portfolio.

Earlier this month, the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) announced the nine teams that would be part of its new partner programme for the 2025 season.

These teams have been selected across three OWCS regions — Asia, North America and EMEA — and will provide additional commercial benefits to the organisations.

This article takes a look at each OWCS 2025 partner team and details their history within Overwatch esports. 

For 2025, OWCS has awarded three EMEA teams with partner status.

Marking its return to Overwatch esports is the Gen.G brand, this time representing a new region. Previously the organisation owned and operated Overwatch League franchise Seoul Dynasty, whilst also having an academy team under the Gen.G moniker until 2022. 

As Seoul Dynasty, the franchise’s greatest achievement occurred at the Overwatch League 2020 Playoff Grand Finals, finishing second place in the event. Following the end of the Overwatch League in 2023, Gen.G and Seoul Dynasty haven’t competed in the Overwatch 2 scene. 

Joining Gen.G is Twisted Minds, an organisation that has been active within the Overwatch esports scene since 2021. Alongside competing within the Saudi eLeague — a regional league that aims to develop Saudi Arabia’s esports scene — for the last few years, the organisation has gone on to qualify for OWCS’ first Major in 2024 as well as the OWCS World Finals.

For 2025, the organisation has revamped its roster, singing the likes of former Spacestation player Daniel ‘FunnyAstro’ Hathaway.

The final organisation that will represent EMEA as a partner team is Virtus.Pro. Entering the scene following the introduction of the OWCS in 2024, the Armenia-based organisation signed a roster ahead of the inaugural Esports World Cup. The team went on to secure a top-eight finish in the event, whilst also claiming back-to-back fourth places at OWCS 2024 Stage 3 and 4.

Similarly to Twisted Minds, Virtus.Pro has also shifted its roster around for the 2025 season, announcing three new signings including former ENCE player Ilari ‘Vestola’ Vestola.

Only two teams have joined the OWCS 2025 partner programme from North America. However, the line-up includes a major name making its return to the scene.

After more than seven years away Team Liquid has joined the Overwatch 2 ecosystem. The organisation’s last competitive match occurred in Overwatch Contenders 2017 Season Zero: North America with a roster that included former London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion player Kim ‘Fury’ Jun-ho. 

A few days after being announced as a partner team, Team Liquid revealed its Overwatch 2 roster which features former Toronto Defiant players Rupal ‘Rupal’ Zaman and Diego ‘Vega’ Moran.

Alongside Team Liquid will be Spacestation, which is making its debut in the North American scene after competing in EMEA last year. Whilst plying its trade in OWCS’ EMEA scene, the North American team placed third in the OWCS 2024 Major and secured top-eight finishes at the Esports World Cup and OWCS World Finals.

Following its move to North America, Spacestation revamped its roster for the 2025 season, with five new players including former Toronto Defiant and NRG Shock players, Kamden ‘Sugarfree’ Hijada and Kim ‘Kellan’ Min-Jae, respectively.

Asia has secured the most amount of partner teams for the 2025 OWCS season with four teams announced. Interestingly, all four of Asia’s partner programme representatives are competing in the Korean league. For context, OWCS Asia is split into Japan, Korea and the Pacific, with the top teams entering OWCS Asia.

Unspurisngly, OWCS 2024 World Champion Team Falcons has been announced as one of Asia’s four representatives. After joining the Overwatch scene in 2021, Team Falcons entered the OWCS following its formation last year and secured a top-two finish in the competition’s first Major. 

Following its triumphs in 2024, it is also no surprise to see that the Saudi Arabian organisation has made no changes to its majority-Korean roster. 

Also securing a partner team spot is OWCS 2024 world finalist Crazy Raccoon. The Japanese esports organisation entered Overwatch 2 following OWCS’ launch and has achieved several accolades already.

With its Korean roster, Crazy Raccoon won OWCS Asia Stage 1, the competition’s first Major and the Esports World Cup. Similarly to Team Falcons, the organisation has not announced any changes to its line–up for 2025.

Making its return to the Overwatch scene is South Korean esports powerhouse T1. Whilst the brand hasn’t officially been seen since Overwatch Contenders 2022, the team is part of a joint venture with one of Overwatch League’s previous franchise owners, Comcast Spectacor.

As Seoul Infernal (formerly Philadelphia Fusion), the franchise was a regular competitor in the Overwatch League until the competition’s cancellation. 

OWCS’ final Asian representative is Japanese esports organisation ZETA Division. Operating with an unchanged squad from its 2024 season, ZETA’s Korean roster notably finished in the top four at the Esports World Cup. 

Prior to its re-debut in 2024, ZETA Division previously competed in the Overwatch scene back in 2019.

As OWCS partner teams, the organisations are entitled to greater commercial opportunities throughout the year. 

According to OWCS, this means that teams will receive a portion of the proceeds from crowdfunded in-game team packs. This includes branded in-game cosmetics. The exact percentage that teams will revive has not been disclosed.

Overwatch 2 is not the only esport to launch a partner programme that includes crowdfunding initiatives, with titles such as VALORANT and Rocket League using similar revenue methods for teams.  

After seven years away from the scene, Team Liquid is returning to the Overwatch esports and has signed an exciting mix of experienced and young talent.

Team Liquid’d roster consists of Boston ‘Infekted’ Fine, Lee ‘KNIFE‘ Seon-woo, Rupal ‘Rupal‘ Zaman, Elliot ‘TR33‘ Chu and Diego ‘Vega‘ Moran. The team will also be coached by Danny ‘Danny‘ Mychakov, with Cas ‘Casores‘ van Andel as Head Coach.

The organisation will compete in the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) 2025 as a partnered team.

Rupal and Vega, Esports World Cup runner-ups from Toronto Ultra, will anchor the roster in Support roles, with KNIFE (formerly of Crazy Raccoon) and TR33 (ex-NRG Shock) taking on DPS duties. Infekted (ex-NTMR) will serve as the team’s Tank.

“For the first time in my career, I’m the oldest player on my team. Happy to be back with Cas and Danny. Also excited to play with a group of very talented youngsters and Infekted,” said Rupal on social media.

This brand-new Team Liquid will make its debut at the Overwatch Champions Series 2025 – NA Stage 1, starting January 31st. The organisation will be up against fellow partnered team Spacestation Gaming and six other teams that have advanced from the Open Qualifier.

The top two teams will secure a spot at Champions Clash and will face off against qualified teams from OWCS’ other regions.

Commenting on the upcoming season, Vega stated on X (formerly Twitter): “Super stoked to start with this team. Although we don’t have two Korean imports, I’m confident we can work hard together and beat the Korean teams at internationals. Wish us luck.”

The return of Team Liquid and the introduction of the partnered programme will play a crucial role in shaping the future of Overwatch esports. This is especially crucial following the launch of its popular competitor Marvel Rivals.

Every 2025 OWCS match will be broadcast live on Overwatch Esports’ official Twitch and YouTube channels.

The OWCS (Overwatch Champions Series) is set to commence its EMEA and North American Stage 1 events on January 31st with eight teams in each league vying to qualify for Champions Clash.

OWCS Stage 1 2025 consists of a mixture of teams that have entered through open qualification and members of Overwatch 2’s partner programme. OWCS’s leagues in China and Asia have yet to complete their qualifiers.

As members of the OWCS partner programme, Twisted Minds and Virtus.pro are returning after debuting in 2024. For the 2025 season, multinational esports organisation Gen.G has become the third partner team for the EMEA region.

Joining the three partner teams are The Ultimates, Sakura Esports, Team Peps, Al Qadsiah, and Team Vision.

The five teams competed in the OWCS Stage 1 open qualifiers and earned their place by finishing the competition in the top five places.

Team Liquid is set to make its debut in the OWCS this year thanks to its participation in the partner programme. The last time the organisation competed in Overwatch esports was in 2017.

The upcoming season will also be Spacestation Gaming’s debut in the North American region after spending 2024 competing in EMEA. The team achieved victory in Stage 2 and Stage 4 of last year’s competition.

Joining the region for the upcoming season are Timeless, Avidity, Rad Esports, NTMR, Shikigami, and Amplify.

The teams placed in the top six during the North American qualifiers to secure their place in the regular season.

The regular season of the OWCS in 2025 involves a round-robin format with all matches being first to three.

The top six teams from the regular season advance to the regional playoffs where a double-elimination bracket is formed.

All matches apart from the Grand Finals use the first to three format while the Grand Finals will see the first team to reach four claiming victory.

The OWCS Stage 1 2025 playoffs take place from March 1st to 9th, 2025.

The top two playoff teams qualify for the Champions Clash while the top six all secure places in Stage 2. Teams that place 7th and 8th will qualify for the Stage 1 relegation tournament taking place on April 13th.

The Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS), Overwatch 2’s tier-one esports ecosystem, has announced a dedicated Chinese region for the competition in 2025.

OWCS’ new competition will kick off with Stage One and sits alongside the ecosystem’s other regions: Asia (Japan, Korea and Pacific), EMEA and North America.

In addition to the new competition, OWCS has also revealed that the first live event of the 2025 season will take place in Hangzhou, China.

This year the Overwatch 2 circuit, run by ESL FACEIT Group, will include three international events, the first of which will be Champions Clash in China. Little is known about the competition, however, OWCS has revealed that it will feature eight teams, with two teams from each region qualifying.

The return of Overwatch esports in China coincides with the game relaunching its server in the country later this year. After rebuilding its relationship with Chinese technology company  NetEase, Blizzard has announced that a technical test will occur in January, with the server launching on February 19th.

It was also announced that the Stage Two live event will be the Midseason Championship at Esports World Cup 2025 in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the World Finals will occur at DreamHack in Stockholm, Sweden.

Following the launch of Overwatch 2’s esports circuit in 2024, ESL FACEIT Group has made significant changes to the OWCS for 2025. Notably, this includes the introduction of promotion and relegation as well as a three-split competitive circuit.

In addition, Overwatch 2 will introduce a Partner Program for teams in 2025. Partnered teams will receive a portion of proceeds generated from crowdfunded in-game team packs.

In total, nine teams will be selected. It has yet to be revealed which teams will participate in the programme.