• Information for Competitors

• What’s New in 2025?

• Pokémon Championship Series Events

• Championship Points Overview

• Adjusting Swiss Tournament Format and Top Cut

Compete against other Pokémon TCG, Pokémon video game, Pokémon UNITE, and Pokémon GO players in the Pokémon Championship Series! The 2025 Championship Series season began in July 2024, and it caps off with the Pokémon World Championships in August 2025.

The Championship Series invites Pokémon fans of all kinds and all skill levels to take part in the fun! No matter your interests, the Championship Series has something to offer.

• Test your Pokémon battling skills

• Be a part of the competitive Pokémon community

• Win prizes, Travel Awards, and more

• Earn an invitation to the Pokémon World Championships

• Meet Pokémon players from around the world

It’s easy to get started in the Pokémon Championship Series! Use the Event Locator to find out where you can compete in your area.

Most smaller, in-store tournaments require no advance registration—all you need to do is show up with a valid Pokémon TCG deck or game and system/device. Tournaments at the Regional and Special Championships levels and above may require advance registration and may sell out quickly; be sure to check the tournament listing for details.

Most Pokémon Championship Series events are operated by independent Tournament Organizers. Please contact the Tournament Organizers for specific information about their venue or scheduling.

The most successful competitors throughout the season can earn invitations to the Pokémon World Championships! Competitors who have met the qualification criteria, either because they were among the top in Championship Points awarded during the season or because they placed highly enough in a tournament that awards direct invitations, will receive an invitation to compete.

Information for Competitors

Before attending a Championship Series event, competitors should review the Pokémon Tournament Rules for more guidelines and information that apply to every competition.

A player’s Pokémon TCG deck must comply with the format assigned for the given tournament as outlined in the Pokémon Tournament Rules. Pokémon video game and Pokémon GO competitors must have a team that complies with the regulations for each event.

Get information on participation requirements for Pokémon UNITE competitions on the Pokémon UNITE official site.

Every player is encouraged to provide their Player ID and have a Pokémon Trainer Club account, and must be in good standing with the Play! Pokémon program. It is helpful for competitors to bring their Player ID card if they have one. If they have not previously been given a Player ID, they can request one via their Play! Pokémon profile page or obtain one at the event. All competitors will need to accept the Play! Pokémon Terms of Use.

Note that some events have limited capacity and require that spectators purchase passes to attend.

To get started in the Pokémon Championship Series, find an event near you and join the fun. Good luck, Trainers!

What’s New in 2025?

Each year, we assess the current state of the Pokémon Championship Series with the goal of maintaining a healthy competitive environment. Each season features a similar competitive structure, but you’ll often see differences from year to year as we make tweaks to the program in reaction to community feedback and continue to improve logistics for your organizers.

The 2025 Pokémon Championship Series features several changes that include a modification to World Championships qualification, a new tournament for Pokémon UNITE, and the continued support of online events with Global Challenges in the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet video games. See below for a summary of the major changes and check out the 2025 Pokémon Championship Series Update for more details.

• A set number of competitors from each rating zone, age division, and game will earn an invitation to the World Championships based on their Championship Point leader standings instead of when hitting a specific threshold.

• Competitors are no longer eligible to earn a Round 1 bye at Worlds.

• All competitors eligible for the World Championships can earn a direct invite by winning a Regional Championships or Special Championships or by finishing in the Top 4 at an International Championships.

• Pokémon UNITE’s season will start in November and feature a tournament at the Latin America International Championships for the first time. The Aeos Cup and Final Stretch will also return to EUIC and NAIC, respectively.

• Championship Point–awarding online competitions for the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games called Global Challenges and Grand Challenges will be held between September and May. Grand Challenges are like Global Challenges, but participation is limited to competitors from Championship Point–earning regions. Grand Challenges will be held in September, October, December, and May. There will be no Global Challenge or Grand Challenge in November.

• Regional Championships and International Championships both award more Championship Points in 2025, but now share the same Best Finish Limit to give Trainers more flexibility on how they schedule their competitive travel throughout a season.

  • International Championships CP rewards and Best Finish Limits have been lowered from the original update in response to community feedback about the high value of these tournaments. The Best Finish Limit for major events is now five.

Pokémon Championship Series Events

The following Play! Pokémon Championship Series events are open to all players.

• League Challenges: the smallest events in Championship Series season, providing a great way for newer players to try competitive Pokémon play

• League Cups: a step up from League Challenge competitions, featuring an increased Championship Point payout

• Global Challenges: online VGC events run via the Battle Stadium over the span of a few days with players from across the globe. They may feature a different format from in-person events.

• Regional Championships: the first level of major events, featuring larger attendance and Championship Point payout than in-store events

• Pokémon Special Championships: standalone events that award Championship Points in select areas where Regional Championships do not occur. The prizes at Special Championships may vary.

• International Championships: large events that award more Championship Points than Regional Championships and feature larger prize pools

The competitors who earn the most Championship Points during the season will receive an invitation to the Pokémon World Championships. Additionally, direct invites to the Pokémon World Championships will be awarded to the following high finishers in Premier Events regardless of their final Championship Point total:

• Special Championships: 1st place

• Regional Championships: 1st place

• International Championships: 1st through 4th place

Direct invites do not pass down—i.e., if a competitor who has already received a direct invite for Worlds would earn a direct invite at one of these events, the runner-up will not receive a direct invite.

The top four finishers from the previous season’s World Championships will also earn a direct invite.

The competitors with the most Championship Points within their rating zone (USA and Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Oceania) can earn travel support for the World Championships.

Championship Points Overview

Earn Championship Points when you compete in Championship Series events! Pokémon TCG, Pokémon video game, and Pokémon GO competitors with enough Championship Points earn invitations to the annual Pokémon World Championships, and can earn awards for travel to Pokémon International Championships events.

See the requirements for the Pokémon UNITE World Championships on the Pokémon UNITE official site.

Championship Points are awarded based on the event, with larger events such as Regional Championships awarding more than smaller events such as League Challenges.

Championship Points are awarded to competitors based on how well they finish at Pokémon Championship Series tournaments. Each player may only receive Championship Points from a limited number of each type of event, known as the Best Finish Limit. When tournament series with different Championship Point scales are included in the same Best Finish Limit, the highest point totals are counted instead of the highest placements. Players may try to improve their highest scores by participating in as many tournaments as they like.

Note that Pokémon TCG, Pokémon video game, and Pokémon GO Championship Point pools are considered separate. They cannot be used across event types. This means that competitors cannot use Championship Points earned at the video game Regional Championships to gain entry to the Pokémon TCG World Championships. You can see how many Championship Points you’ve accumulated during the season on your Pokémon Trainer Club account profile page. Please review the Ratings and Rankings FAQ for an explanation of how tiebreakers are settled.

Adjusting Swiss Tournament Format and Top Cut

Similar to the 2024 World Championships, shifts to the Swiss tournament format and method for determining which competitors advance to the top cut will continue throughout the rest of the 2025 Championship Series season.

For Special Championships, Regional Championships, International Championships, and the World Championships, Pokémon TCG and video game tournaments will be played in a more conventional Swiss round count plus an additional round, rather than the modified version of the Swiss format used in recent seasons.

After all Swiss rounds are completed, the Top 8 competitors, plus all competitors with the same number of match points as 8th place (to a maximum of 32), will advance into an asymmetrical top cut single-elimination bracket to determine the winner of the event.

Overall, this change to Swiss will promote more streamlined tournament days to improve the flow of the event and to limit potential daily fatigue. For top cut, this update allows competitors a way to better advance in a tournament based on their skills while reducing factors that are partially out of their control, such as the opponent’s match win percentage.