The 2024 World Cup of Pokémon VGC is here!

After huge success these past two years, Victory Road is happy to host a new edition of the World Cup of Pokémon VGC! The World Cup is a community-run online tournament that aims to gather the best Pokémon players from all over the world, with over 50 countries and territories being represented!

Table of Contents

Format

  • Over 50 teams (final number TBC) representing countries and regions from all corners of the world will be playing, with returning teams from last year and open to new additions!
  • Each team will have from 8 to 12 players, and team managers are eligible to play if they wish to do so by taking one of these slots in the process.
  • The tournament is played in three segments:
    • Qualifiers, where all participating teams (except those with a direct bye into the Group Stage) will be randomly drafted into groups and will play in a round-robin stage. All weeks will be played in 8v8 individual matches. The best teams will advance until 32 remain in the next stage.
    • Group Stage, where the Top 8 teams from last year as well as 24 more teams will be randomly drafted, again, into new groups for a second round-robin stage. All weeks will be played in 8v8 individual sets, too. The best 16 teams will advance.
    • Play-offs, where the remaining teams battle it out for the championship in a single-elimination bracket. All weeks will be played 7v7 individual matches.
  • All matches played in VGC Regulation Set H.
  • All matches will be played on the Nintendo Switch. using the Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet games. You will need to have the console with a copy of the game and an active subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online to participate. 
  • All matches will be played using open team lists.
  • Players are allowed to change their team each week. However, it is strictly prohibited changing moves, items, or training any Pokémon to have different stats, using an Ability Capsule or any other item that may modify its stats during the course of a best-of-3 set.
  • All weeks will have featured matches streamed on Victory Road’s Twitch channel, and there may be extra matches and content on Victory Road’s YouTube channel.

Calendar

Each round takes a week, starting each Tuesday, when pairings are posted, and ending on Monday, beginning on 1 October. Please notice that dates are provisional, and they may be subject to change as per the interests of the competition.

Qualifiers: 1 to 21 October 2024

Group Stage: 22 October to 11 November 2024 (32 qualified teams)

Play-offs: 12 November to 10 December 2024 (16 qualified teams)

  • The tournament will account for LAIC and this round will last 2 weeks.
  • Top 16 round: 12-25 November
  • Quarterfinals: 26 November-2 December
  • Semifinals: 3-8 December
  • Finals: 9-15 December

* Dates are provisional and may change in the future.

Eligibility criteria

  • Players may apply to join any given team provided they either:
    • Were born or hold citizenship rights in said country or any of its territories.
    • Are currently living in said country or any of its territories.
    • Both player’s parents/tutors were born or hold citizenship rights in said country or any of its territories.
    • Special citizenship laws may be taken into account. For example, players with OCI are allowed to join the tournament and play for India.
  • Players may only apply for a team provided they can prove at least one of the above criteria as true.
  • Players eligible for multiple countries are free to choose where to apply, but ultimately may only play for one team.
  • Once players join a team, they cannot join other national teams for the next country-based event hosted by Victory Road. This means that those players who took part of a team last year, are tied to them for this edition.
    • This rule gets priority over the regular eligibility criteria shown above.
    • This rule applies for the following country-based event hosted (for example: from 2023 World Cup to 2024 World Cup). This means that players who want to leave their previous team shall wait until the following event (in this case, a potential 2025 World Cup) in order to join a different team.
  • Any applications not meeting the eligibility criteria will be dismissed. Please keep in mind these rules are final and will be subject to no exceptions.

Seedings

  • The top 8 teams from the 2023 World Cup will be automatically qualified for the Group Stage, thus skipping qualifiers. The teams affected by this are Argentina, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
  • All other participating teams* will be divided into pots based on their performance of previous editions, as per their Elo ranking. During the Qualifiers draft, one team from each pot will be randomly allocated to each group, so that no two teams in the same pot can meet in the first round of competition.
    • The teams are allocated into Pots 1 to 4 according to their Elo ranking.
    • Any new teams returning or debuting in 2024 will be added to Pot 4.

* Depending on the final number of participating teams, additional byes to the Group Stage may be given; and the seed pots, structure and amount of teams per group of the Qualifier Stage may be modified.

Prizes

Unfortunately, the World Cup is not sponsored in this edition, so there is no prize pool.

Sign-ups

If you wish to join the 2024 World Cup as a player, please fill out the form below. You may also express interest on becoming a manager for your team.

Even if your country or territory did not participate in last year’s edition, you may still apply. Any new teams that comply with eligibility requirements for at least 8 players will be allowed to compete.

You also have below the list of confirmed teams and managers. The decision on each teams’ roster is taken by each manager, so please keep in mind that different teams might have different criteria on how to select their players. Contact your team’s managers if you have any questions.

Final roster deadline: 23 September 2024

Teams and managers

Each team will have one to three managers. Their job is to create their team’s roster of players, select their weekly line-ups and manage all internal communications with the tournament staff and Victory Road.

If you don’t see your region here, sign up anyway! New teams are welcome to enter the competition, and some are found at the end of this post!

Europe & Africa

#FlagCountry/RegionManagerCo-managers
1AUTAustriaShonali Kenn
(Shonatron)
Gero Meyer
(Jeremiah)
2BELBelgiumSimon Van der Borght
(Shmon)
Nick Theunis
(Niqeth)
3DNKDenmarkBenjamin Jochimsen
(Benno)
Kasper Wissendorf
(Blox)
4EGYEgyptKarim Awad
(Coldflame)
Ahmed Abdel-Moneim (Beb3em),
Dina Plasencia (Dina)
5FRAFranceAnthony Liuzzo
(Glum)
Hippolyte Bernard
(Redsilver)
6DEUGermanyMarkus Stadter
(13Yoshi37)
Maurice Uteg (Camikasa),
Michael Kelsch (MichaelderBeste)
7GRCGreeceKosta Daidimos
(PokeKosta)
Lazaros Lazaropoulos (Laz),
Paschalis Dermentzis (PasDer)
8IRLIrelandMattie Morgan
(MattieMoo)
Brian Collins (Angelohunter),
Shane Whelan (Shane)
9ITAItalyFederico Camporesi
(FedeCampo)
Matteo Ballini
(Mava)
10LUXLuxembourgCorentin Schepens
(Dworlax)
Nikola Zirdum
(NFJontra)
11MARMoroccoAmin Lehna
(Aminko)
Omar Sbayou (Onaika),
Sliman Ziyech (Slisli)
12NLDNetherlandsBas van der Heijden
(Baars)
Lennard M.
(Dura)
13NORNorwayBrede Stavø
(Bred)
Ola Petersen Nordby
(NostalgiaIsGreat)
14POLPolandBartosz Ekiert
(Naociak)
 
15PRTPortugalRuben Pereira
(Puddles)
Eduardo Cunha
(Edu
16SMRSan MarinoPending confirmation 
17ESPSpainGuillermo Castilla
(KastyTP)
Raúl Campoy
(Rayko)
18SWESwedenPontus Westerlund
(Pontus)
David Degerman
(Particular)
19CHESwitzerlandDamo Lokmic
(Damo)
 Samuele Santelli
(Zayon)
20TURTürkiyeFatih Yörük
(Conqad)
Ozan Kaplan
(Tigerozi11)
21GBRUnited KingdomJamie Kean
(Kean)
Ben Kyriakou (Kyriakou),
Scott Westwood (Scottyw01)

The Americas

#FlagCountry/RegionManagerCo-managers
22ARGArgentinaJuan Salerno
(Juanfi)
Julián Martínez
(Simius Black)
23BRBBarbadosCaniggia Willett
(Koujex)
Pending confirmation
24BLZBelizePending confirmation 
25BOLBoliviaSergio Argandoña
(SergZX)
Giovanni Araníbar
(Libiak)
26BRABrazilHugo Nascimento
(Discord: labacedo)
Rogério Catel
(Discord: guithu)
27CANCanadaJean-Marc Hébert
(JeanMarc)
Sapphire Lai (Eeveon7),
Ryan Loseto (SableyeVGC)
28CHLChileJavier Nain
(Jvvieree)
 
29COLColombiaCristian André Rodríguez
(Rukairo)
David Dávila
(Cormyrean)
30CRICosta RicaDavid Rodríguez
(Davidness)
Reynord González
(Rey Gaming)
31DOMDominican RepublicJuan Moisés Pérez
(Rickinch)
 Luis Franjul
(Luifra)
32ECUEcuadorYamid Rodríguez
(DrVGC)
Gabriel Berrios
(Gabriel)
33SLVEl SalvadorGeovanni Polanco
(Green)
 
34HNDHondurasAndrés Centeno
(Discord: andr3dwarhn)
Pending confirmation
35JAMJamaicaKevonne Boreland
(KD)
Abdul Barrie
(Slim)
36MEXMexicoChristian Ramírez
(Ewokpadawan)
Arath Vera
(Arath)
37NICNicaraguaRommel Maltez
(Guarda)
Pending confirmation
38PANPanamaAlberto Ríos
(7illo)
Felipe Molino
(Nator92)
39PERPeruSebastián Bisbal
(Brutus)
Sebastián Solari
(Gato-T)
40PRIPuerto RicoAlexavier Álvarez
(Arekusabi)
Kenneth Tirado
(Kenepa)
41USAUnited StatesJeremy Odena
(Jerm)
Justin Burns (Spurrific),
Joseph Ugarte (JoeUX9)
42URYUruguayGonzalo Sintas
(Gonzs)
Agustín Marinucci
(Mari)
43VENVenezuelaLuis Roquet
(ApaRocks)
Joshua Farrera
(LordChochua)

Asia & Oceania

#FlagCountry/RegionManagerCo-managers
44AUSAustraliaKiran Singh
(Mevlad)
 
45CHNChinaPeng Chongjun
(Chongjun)
Xu Yihui (Yihui),
Zhou Xinjie (Setsuku)
46HKGHong KongOr Kei Yin
(Cyrus)
Leung Pak Hei
(Esmond)
47INDIndiaAbhay Iyer
(Abhayfive)
Nishant Joshi
(Giga)
48IDNIndonesiaGuntur Prabowo
(Osada)
M. Hafidz Syahril
(MHS)
49ISRIsraelDov Joseph Aloof
(Avaddov)
Aminadav Grant (Amin),
Enosh Shachar (Human)
50JPNJapanYuki Zaninovich
(Yukizan)
Yuki Kono
(Forte)
51MYSMalaysiaAzri Firman
(MrTsukkomi)
Ismat Myron
(Ismat)
52NZLNew ZealandAxl Laher
(Axl)
 Guilherme Schilling
(Guilherme)
53PAKPakistanDaanish Syed
(7SidedDice)
Husnul Khan (2QuidV),
Ahmed Aamad
54PHLPhilippinesEnrico Comentan
(AlphaTorónado)
Ryan Pareja (Choco.Pau),
Arbin Tumaneng (Cypher)
55SGPSingaporeMelvin Keh
(Shaman)
 
56KORSouth KoreaSanghyeon Na
(Nash)
Pending confirmation
57TWNTaiwanTsai Chien-chien
(ChienX2)
Huang Yang-jie
(KKCWind)
58THAThailandNarawitch Naenna
(MyStars)
Gunn K. Sathorn
(Maletix)
59VNMVietnamLong Nguyễn
(Sportaholic)
 

Potential new and returning teams!

These are the teams that are looking forward to joining the World Cup after missing out the previous edition!

#FlagCountry/RegionContactStatus
TBDDZAAlgeriaAdam Benzoubir
(Ace.bnz)
Recruiting players!
TBDFINFinlandOliver Eskolin (Owe),
Mikael Viljanen (Maikkeli)
Recruiting players!
TBDMLTMaltaNaim Spiteri
(NerfGanon)
Recruiting players!
TBDPRYParaguayMartín Riquelme
(Martinique)
Recruiting players!
TBDQATQatarHussam Nasrallah
(Safena)
Recruiting players!
TBDZAFSouth AfricaNico Beets
(Groenkobra)
Recruiting players!
TBDUKRUkraineMaksim Lieder
(Cactusmax)
Recruiting players!
TBDYour team may be next! Don’t hesitate and sign up!

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Victory Road