Anaheim to host the 2025 Pokémon World Championship, San Francisco in 2026

On top of the 2025 announcement, a surprise revelation was made in San Francisco as the host of the 2026 tournament. Both events will take place in August of their respective years.

This will be the second time the World Cup has been held in North America after a brief stint on an international tour. The 2023 event was held in Japan, while London will host the 2022 edition. NA has been home to the World Cup for quite some time, but Anaheim may not have the same exciting appeal as Hawaii.

This is also the second time that Worlds will be coming to Anaheim, after the city hosted the 2017 World Championships. Back then, the main competitions on offer were VGC, TGC and Pokkén tournament on Wii U—how far we’ve come. Funnily enough, the main series was Sun and Moonso I think it would be a good idea to investigate Hawaii further.

The 2025 event will have a smaller group of participants Pokémon players who will compete following changes to World Cup qualifying announced in June 2024. Only a few hundred people can now qualify for the event each year, compared to thousands normally attending, meaning many players could miss out on a place altogether.