2026 Pokémon World Championships
|
This article is about an expected future event. The article's contents may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available. Please be cautious when adding information to this article, as rumors and speculation often get confused with fact; avoid any information on this subject which is not confirmed by reliable sources. |
|
World Championships |
|
| Location |  San Francisco, United States
|
|---|---|
| Venue | Moscone Center |
| Dates | August 28-30, 2026 |
| Supported games | VGC, TCG, GO, UNITE |
| Regulation set | Regulation Set TBD |
|---|
| Format | 2026-27 Standard |
|---|
| League | Great League |
|---|
| Map | TBD |
|---|
The 2026 Pokémon World Championships will be held in San Francisco, California, United States on August 28-30, 2026. It is the final tournament to culminate the 2025-26 competitive play season and will be the twenty-first invitation-only world championships for players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the sixteenth for players of the Pokémon video games, and the fifth for players of Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITE. It will be the eighteenth time the Pokémon World Championships has been held in the U.S., and the second time the event has been held in San Francisco.
For the first time, the Pokémon convention event PokémonXP will also be held at the same time as the 2026 Pokémon World Championships.
Approved devices
All games held in the tournaments need to be played on "approved devices" which includes all versions of the Nintendo Switch console line, as well as the following smartphones:
- Apple iPhone 15 or newer (including all iPhone variants of the respective lines)
- Apple iPhone Air
- Samsung Galaxy S series: S25 or newer (FE phones not included)
- Samsung Galaxy Z series: Fold7 and Flip7
Other phones will not be allowed in tournament play across all titles, players without an approved device will need to use a tournament provided Nintendo Switch 2 or Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.[1]
Video Game Championships
Starting with the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, VGC matches will use the Pokémon Champions game.[2]
Qualification Paths
Players were able to qualify through the following paths:
| Organizer | Rating Zone | Qualifier | Placements | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters | Senior | Junior | |||
| — |  Global
|
2025 Pokémon World Championships
|
4 | 4 | 4 |
| The Pokémon Company (TPC) |  Japan
|
2026 Pokémon Japan Championships (PJCS)
|
64 | 64 | 64 |
 Philippines
|
2025–26 Philippines Master Ball League (PHMBL)
|
Top 10 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
 Hong Kong
|
2025–26 Hong Kong Master Ball League (HKMBL)
|
Top 10 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
 Malaysia
|
2025–26 Malaysia Master Ball League (MYMBL)
|
Top 10 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
 Thailand
|
2025–26 Thailand Master Ball League (THMBL)
|
Top 10 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
 Singapore
|
2025–26 Singapore Master Ball League (SGMBL)
|
Top 10 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
 Taiwan
|
2025–26 Taiwan Master Ball League (TWMBL)
|
Top 22 overall | |||
| — | + Top 4 remaining | ||||
| Pokémon Korea (PKI) |  South Korea
|
Pokémon Trainers Cup 2026 (PTC)
|
16 | 16 | 16 |
| The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) | International
|
 2026 Pokémon Latin America International Championships (LAIC)
|
4 | 4 | 4 |
 2026 Pokémon Europe International Championships (EUIC)
|
4 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 2026 Pokémon North America International Championships (NAIC)
|
4 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Play! Pokémon Regional Championships
|
26 | 26 | 26 | ||
| Play! Pokémon Special Championships
|
7 | 7 | 7 | ||
 North America
|
North America Championships Leaderboard
|
80 | 20 | 20 | |
 Europe
|
Europe Championships Leaderboard
|
80 | 20 | 20 | |
 Latin America
|
Latin America Championships Leaderboard
|
60 | 15 | 15 | |
 Oceania
|
Oceania Championships Leaderboard
|
20 | 10 | 10 | |
 Middle East and South Africa
|
Middle East and South Africa Championships Leaderboard
|
5 | 5 | 5 | |
Trading Card Game Championships
TBA
Pokémon GO Championships
TBA
Pokémon UNITE Championships
Starting with the 2026 series, the Pokémon UNITE Championships will discontinue the Championship Point-based invitation system for North America, Europe, and Latin America. Instead, teams in these regions may qualify for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships by finishing at top 2 in the newly introduced Pokémon UNITE Regional League tournaments. Monthly Cups have also been discontinued as part of this change. Teams may also qualify by winning one of three international tournaments: the Aeos Cup at EUIC, the Asia Champions League (PUACL), and the Final Stretch tournament at NAIC. Six teams also qualified through the Pokémon UNITE Open Last Chance Qualifier. All qualified teams will receive travel awards for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships.[3]
No World Championships tournament was planned for this year. The 3 places previously afforded to Chinese Teams have been partially reallocated. China did however have a chance to qualify through the PUACL tournament with Dark Peach representing the region after winning the 2026 Shenzhen Masters, however they failed to qualify, having been knocked out in round 2 of the lower bracket.
International tournaments
The three international Competitions (LAIC, EUIC, NAIC) held throughout the year had an open signup system with a cap of 32 teams, however LAIC did not provide any direct entry into the competition. Instead the top 3 teams were invited to participate in the Asia Champions League (PUACL), for a chance of one of 2 qualifying positions.
The final International tournament, PUACL was a closed format tournament in which 16 qualified teams competed as follows:
Japan: The top 4 (of 12) teams from the PUACL Japan League.
Asia Pacific: The top 3 (of 8) teams from the PUACL Asia Pacific League (4 teams from AP-W, 2 teams from AP-E, 2 teams from KR qualified to the league)
India: The winner of the 10-team PUACL India League.- Japan: The winner Pokémon UNITE Winter Tournament 2026 Japan.
- Asia Pacific West: The winner Pokémon UNITE Winter Tournament 2026 Asia Pacific West.
- Asia Pacific East: The winner Pokémon UNITE Winter Tournament 2026 Asia Pacific East.
- India: The winner Pokémon UNITE Winter Tournament 2026 India.
: The Top 3 teams from the 2026 Latin America Championships (LAIC).
: The winner of the 2026 Shenzhen Masters tournament.
Qualfied teams
30 Teams qualified to the main tournament as follows:
| Category | Location or participating regions | Qualifier | WCS placements | Qualifying date | Qualified team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International Tournaments | London, United Kingdom
|
EUIC: Aeos Cup at the 2026 Pokémon Europe International Championships | 1 | February 15, 2026 |  Team Peps
|
| Yokohama, Japan
|
PUACL: Pokémon UNITE Asia Champions League | 2 | March 30, 2026 | FENNEL REJECT
| |
| New Orleans, United States
|
NAIC Final Stretch at the 2026 Pokémon North America International Championships | 1 | June 14, 2026 | TBD
| |
| Regional Tournaments | Europe
|
Europe Regional League
|
2 | April 26, 2026 | KOMAI BH3 E-Sport
|
| Europe Last Chance Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 |  Volticons UNITE
| ||
  Latin America[a]
|
Latin America Regional League
|
2 | April 26, 2026 |  PERÚ UNITE Force Gaming
| |
| Brazil
|
Brazil Last Chance Qualifier
|
2 | May 10, 2026 | FAMES Tuzzy E-Sports
| |
| Latin America North
|
Latin America North Last Chance Qualifier
|
2 | May 10, 2026 |  Stamina Esports Looking For Org
| |
| Latin America South
|
Latin America South Last Chance Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 | New Gen
| |
| North America
|
North America Regional League
|
2 | April 26, 2026 | Root Dignitas Evil Geniuses
| |
| North America Last Chance Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 | LuneX Gaming
| ||
| Oceania
|
Oceania Last Chance Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 |  Legends Reappear
| |
| Japan
|
Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Japan Qualifier (PJCS)
|
3 | June 6, 2026 | C,C, IGZIST ZETA DIVISION
| |
| Korea
|
Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Korea Qualifier
|
2 | May 24, 2026 | XoraTigersGaming T1
| |
 Asia Pacific West
|
 Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Indonesia Qualifier
|
2 | May 3, 2026 | ONIC Rise Tryhard
| |
| Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Thailand Qualifier
|
1 | May 3, 2026 | Strong Basketball Player 1
| ||
 Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Malaysia/Singapore Qualifier
|
1 | June 7, 2026 | TeamMYS
| ||
 Asia Pacific East
|
Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Philippines Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 | Team Nemesis
| |
 Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 Taiwan/Hong Kong Qualifier
|
1 | May 10, 2026 | All Times Champion
| ||
 India
|
Pokémon UNITE WCS2026 India Qualifier
|
1 | April 26, 2026 | S8UL Esports
|
- Qualified teams by Regional Zone
The following table breaks down how many teams qualified for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in each Regional Zone.
| 5 qualified teams | 4 qualified teams | 3 qualified teams | 2 qualified teams | 1 qualified team | No qualified teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan (JP)
|
Asia Pacific West (AP-W)
|
Brazil (BR)
|
Asia Pacific East (AP-E)
|
India (IN)
|
 China (CN)
|
| Europe (EU)
|
Korea (KR)
|
Oceania (OC)
| |||
| Latin America South (LA-S) [b]
|
Latin America North (LA-N)
|
TBD at NAIC
| |||
| North America (NA)
|
Distributions
TBA
Notes
References
- ↑ "Pokémon UNITE Tournament Device Policy Update for 2026 NAIC and 2026 Worlds."
- ↑ (August 17, 2025). "Pokémon World Champions Crowned at the 2025 Pokémon World Championships." The Pokémon Company North America Official Press Site
- ↑ "What’s New for the 2026 Pokémon Championship Series?" — Pokémon Championships Series official website
External links
|
This article is part of both Project TCG and Project Games, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Video Game Championship Tournaments. | 
|