Pokémon World Championships


The Pokémon World Championships is an invite-only esports event organized by Play! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from the Pokémon series such as the Pokémon video games, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Go, Pokémon Unite and Pokkén Tournament. Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception of Asia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by the Play! Pokémon program.

History

The Pokémon World Championships first began with the Pokémon Trading Card Game in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity. In 2008, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for the Pokémon video game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships. Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC were played with a different game each year, mainly the latest Pokémon game from its main series, up until 2025. From 2026, all VGC tournaments will be played on Pokémon Champions.
In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced that Pokkén Tournament would have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships. From 2018 onward, Pokkén Tournament DX was used to support its qualifiers and competitions.
In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place in London, United Kingdom, the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside of North America. This is likely due to the setting of Pokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as the Galar region, and that is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships.
On March 31, 2020, Play! Pokémon cancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championships and part of its season between March and June 2020. On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons.
In early January 2022, it was confirmed that Pokémon Unite would be played at the World Championships, making it the newest MOBA game to have an official esports tournament, after League of Legends.
In May 2022, after six seasons of competitions, Play! Pokémon announced the end of the Pokkén Tournament Championship Series after the 2022 season.
At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place in Yokohama, Japan. When the 2023 event took place, it was the first World Championships to visit the franchise's country of origin and take place in Asia.
At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships would return to Hawaii for the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. The 2025 event was held in Anaheim, California and was the first edition of the tournament to have Championship Sunday held at an arena.

World Championship locations

Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship was held in Japan. 17 of the 19 remaining events were held in the United States.

Qualification

The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs instead of playing through the first day.

Play! Pokémon program

Players located in a country with a Play! Pokémon program compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season.
In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents of Latin America and Asia. However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced that Asia would no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships.
As of January 17, 2025, the list of countries in each rating zone are as follows.
North AmericaEuropeLatin AmericaOceaniaMiddle East and Africa

Pokémon GO Championship Series

Pokémon announced in October 2021 that Pokémon GO would be added during the 2022 World Championships, along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships. Any trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of the Pokémon GO Battle League would qualify for the GO Championship Series.

2022 Championship Series

The 2022 Pokémon GO Championship Series is a series with a purpose of acting as a qualification system to the 2022 Pokémon World Championship. The series consists of events spread throughout the globe. The series is divided into the Senior's and Master's divisions. The series' format revolves around the Great League. Players can enter the championship either by attaining Legend rank during either Season 9 or Season 10 of the GO Battle League, or by registering via Play! Pokémon after the Legend-rank registration closes. Every event is divided between a regional or international event. The top Pokémon players at these events would be given an invitation to the 2022 World Championship. The earliest event began on 26 March, in Liverpool, with the latest being on 24 June, in Columbus, Ohio.
A list of events featured in the series is listed below:

Pokémon Unite Championship Series

In January 2022, Pokémon Unite producer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London. For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from.
In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships.
In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships.
Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships.
In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams. Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three series round-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on the Pokémon Unite YouTube channel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship.

Japan & South Korea

Tournaments in Japan and South Korea are organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification.
In Japan, players compete for an invite to the Japan National Championships by playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season. The best performing players of the Japan National Championships will then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships.
In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in the Korean National Championships and earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by the Korean League and earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season.

Other

There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World Championships or by participating in a single-elimination tournament known as the Last Chance Qualifier at the location of the World Championships itself.

List of World Champions

Pokémon Go

The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament.
All tournament battles use the Great League battle format
YearSeniors Masters
2022

2014 World Championships

The 2014 Pokémon World Championships was the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Washington, D.C., alongside the 2014 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championship who were in their eleventh edition.
The tournament was streamed via Twitch for the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000.
The defending Video Game champions were Arash Ommati from Italy, Hayden McTavish from the United States, and Brendan Zheng from the United States. The opening ceremony of the event was attended by Junichi Masuda, the video game designer for the Pokémon franchise and a member of the board of directors of Game Freak.
The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community for Se Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of a Pachirisu on his team.

2014 qualification

The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World Championships.
The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner:Top 4 players from the 2013 Pokémon World Championships,Top 32 players from Europe with the most Championship Points,Top 16 players from North America with the most Championship Points, Top 4 players from Australia with the most Championship Points,Top 2 players from South Africa with the most Championship Points,Top 8 players from the Japan National Championships,Top 2 players from the South Korea National Championships, andTop 4 players from the Last Chance Qualifier, a tournament held the day before the World Championships in the same venue.
Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament.

2014 tournament structure

Players per country

  • Masters Division
CountryZone# of Players
North America22
Europe10
Europe7
Japan7
Australia4
Europe3
Europe2
South Korea2
South Africa1
North America1
Europe1

Results

Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches.
The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World Champion Ray Rizzo did not advance to the single elimination rounds.
  • Masters Division

Final standings

PlaceMasters DivisionSenior DivisionJunior Division
1st

2015 World Championships

The 2015 Pokémon World Championships was the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official Pokémon Twitch channel. The defending Video Game champions for the year were Se Jun Park from South Korea, Nikolai Zielinsky from the United States and Kota Yamamoto from Japan.

2015 qualification

Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the 2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated by Play! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification.
Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones were introduced.
The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites:
  • a regular 'Day One' invite, and
  • a 'Day Two' invite, which allows players to receive a bye for the Swiss tournament on the first day.
As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows:

2015 tournament structure

The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday, all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday, where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday.

Weapons controversy

During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors from Iowa brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by various Pokémon fans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2015. The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail. The weapons recovered were a recently purchased Remington shotgun, an AR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition. They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000. On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016. Following the release of Pokémon Go in July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon. Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends.

2016 World Championships

The 2016 Pokémon World Championships was the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.
For the first time in the tournament history, the Pokkén Tournament invitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships and Trading Card Game tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event.
The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami from Japan, Mark McQuillan from the United Kingdom and Kotone Yasue from Japan. The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from the United States, Patrick Martinez from the United States, and Rowan Stavenow from Canada.

Age divisions and qualifications

Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: the Junior Division, the Senior Division, and the Masters Division. For the Pokkén Tournament invitational, players were grouped into either the Senior Division or Masters Division.
The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points. Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season. Players from Japan and South Korea were excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points.
Play! Pokémon divided players into five different rating zones: US and Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world.
There are two possible invitations players could obtain:
  • a regular 'Day One' invite, and
  • a 'Day Two' invite, which allowed players to acquire a 'Day One' bye and automatically enter the second Swiss tournament.
'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon.

Trading Card Game Championship qualifications

The following table shows the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
ZonesMasters Division Senior Division Junior Division Day Two
US and Canada350 CP250 CP200 CPTop 16 Players in each division
Europe300 CP250 CP200 CPTop 22 Players in each division
Latin America200 CP150 CP100 CPTop 8 Players in each division
Asia-Pacific200 CP150 CP100 CPTop 8 Players in each division
South Africa200 CP150 CP100 CP-

Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each country's organized play system.

Video Game Championship qualifications

For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
ZonesDay OneDay Two
US and Canada350 CPTop 8 of the Zone
Europe275 CPTop 16 of the Zone
Latin America150 CPTop 4 of the Zone
Asia-Pacific200 CPTop 4 of the Zone
South Africa400 CP-

2016 tournament structure

The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday, all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday, where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday.