After a huge success with the European Cup last year, we’re back with the first edition of the Victory Road World Cup of Pokémon VGC! For the first time, this emblematic tournament will be sponsored by elgato!
The VR World Cup aims to gather the best Pokémon players from all around the world — This year, more than 50 countries will be represented by their finest competitors!
Format & calendar
- 55 countries and regions represented.
- Teams from 8 to 12 players. Team managers will be able to play as well, taking one of the slots in the process.
- Each round takes a week, from Monday to Sunday, beginning on August.
- Stage 1 (Pools) – August 2 – August 22, 2021
- 27 teams divided in 9 groups of 3 teams each.
- 28 teams divided in 7 groups of 4 teams each.
- Top 2 teams of each group qualify for Stage 2.
- All weeks are played 8 vs 8 (Bo3 matches).
- A 4th team will be added to the groups with 3 teams in case more countries join the competition.
- Stage 2 (Pools) – August 23 – September 12, 2021
- 32 teams divided in 8 groups of 4 teams each.
- Top 2 teams of each group qualify for Stage 3.
- All weeks are played 8 vs 8 (Bo3 matches).
- Stage 3 (Play-offs) – September 13 – October 10, 2021
- The 16 qualified will play until getting a winner.
- Single elimination.
- All weeks are played 7 vs 7 (Bo3 matches).
- All matches played in VGC 2021 Series 10, with the current rules in play.
- All matches will be played on Nintendo Switch.
- All matches will be played using closed teamsheets format.
- 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.
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.
- OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) are allowed to join the tournament and play for India.
- Both player’s biological parents were born or hold citizenship rights in said country or any of its territories.
- 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 may only play for one team.
- Once players join a team, they can not join other national teams for future country-based events hosted by Victory Road. This means that those players who took part of an European team last year, are tied to them for this event.
- This rule gets priority over the regular eligibilty criteria shown above.
- This rule will apply for the following country-based event hosted (for example: from European Cup 2020 to World Cup 2021). This means that players who want to leave their previous team may wait until the following event (in this case, a potential World Cup 2022).
- Any applications not meeting the eligibility criteria will be dismissed. Please keep in mind these rules are final and will be subjected to no exceptions.
Streamed matches
Highlight matches from all weeks of competition will be officially streamed on Victory Road’s Twitch channel each week (every Friday, Saturday and Sunday), hosted by talented casters from all around the world.
Additionally, for those who want more action from the World Cup of VGC, we will be posting more highlight matches and extra content on Victory Road’s YouTube channel.
Managers
Managers will be able to decide if they are part or not of the 8-12 players roster. They will be picked soon and each country will decide on their own the procedures to make up a national team. Once the manager is decided, they will be able to draft players after this sign-up deadline.
In case there are some countries where their communities are not able to reach an agreement in order to choose their managers, Victory Road staff will be choosing them based on their own criteria.
Managers will be able to decide if they are part or not of the 8-12 players roster. Each country will decide on their own procedures to make up a national team. They will be able to draft players after this sign-up deadline.
The following is the list of managers for all confirmed teams. Some other countries may still join!
Europe & Africa
| # | Flag | Country/Region | Manager | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Austria | Lukas Auer (SaltySylveon) | – |
| 2 |  | Belgium | Simon Van der Borght (Shmon) | – |
| 3 |  | Czech Republic | Michal Souček (Tungovník) | – |
| 4 |  | Denmark | Benjamin Jochimsen (Benno) | – |
| 5 |  | Finland | Oliver Eskolin (Owe) | – |
| 6 |  | France | Adam Cherfaoui (Shao) | Antoine Desaegher (ApPy) |
| 7 |  | Germany | Fevzi Özkan (Fevzi) | Eike Gilcher (Eimagi) |
| 8 |  | Greece | Kosta Daidimos (Kosta) | Paschalis Dermentzis (PasDer) |
| 9 |  | Ireland | Connagh Johnston (CaisealBoy) | Patrick Donegan (Pd0nz) |
| 10 |  | Italy | Flavio Del Pidio (Pado) | Arash Ommati (Mean) |
| 11 |  | Norway | Brede Stavø (Brede) | Ola Nordby (Nostalgia) |
| 12 |  | Poland | Bartosz Ekiert (Naociak) | Filip Idczak (Idczaq) |
| 13 |  | Portugal | Ruben Pereira (Puddles) | João Costa (Pocket Rotom) |
| 14 |  | Russia | Alexander Zhak (Leek) | – |
| 15 |  | Spain | Álex Gómez (PokeAlex) | Guillermo Castilla (KastyTP) |
| 16 |  | Sweden | Victor Larsson (Vgctor) | – |
| 17 |  | Switzerland | Damo Lokmic (Damo) | Stefan Mott (Pengy) |
| 18 |  | The Netherlands | Lyam Geurts (Absurdity) | Andres Escobosa (000aj) |
| 19 |  | United Kingdom | Jamie Boyt (MrJellyLeggs) | Jamie Kean (Kean) |
| 20 |  | South Africa | Dale Schwikkard (DalesHandZA) | – |
The Americas
| # | Flag | Country/Region | Manager | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 |  | Argentina | Juan Salerno (Juanfi) | Federico Turano (Avatar Fede) |
| 22 |  | Bolivia | Giovanni Araníbar (Zach) | Jesús Núñez (Yisus) |
| 23 |  | Brazil | Gabriel Agati (Agati) | – |
| 24 |  | Canada | Jean-Marc Hébert (JeanMarc) | – |
| 25 |  | Chile | Javier Valdés (IRNemesis) | Heriberto Pacaje (Kaze) |
| 26 |  | Colombia | Juan Naar (Don) | Cristian Andre (Ruka) |
| 27 |  | Costa Rica | Andrés Parada (Hira) | – |
| 28 |  | Dominican Republic | Bryant Ovalle (Bry) | Víctor Matos (Motote) |
| 29 |  | Ecuador | Paul Ruiz (Ralfdude) | Raúl Ramírez (Rul) |
| 30 |  | El Salvador | Geovanni Polanco (Green) | Brian Figueroa (Balefias) |
| 31 |  | Guatemala | Juanma Santizo (TeKa) | Pablo de la Vega (Darkk502) |
| 32 |  | Honduras | Andrés Centeno (Edw) | – |
| 33 |  | Mexico | Moisés Briones (Xtatic) | Christian Ramírez (Ewokpadawan) |
| 34 |  | Panama | Gabriel Cedeño (Gabuu) | Alberto Ríos (7illo) |
| 35 |  | Paraguay | Jose Guanes (IceGuanes) | – |
| 36 |  | Peru | Diego Paredes (Zorro-T) | Sebastián Solari (Gato-T) |
| 37 |  | Puerto Rico | Melvin Concepción (Melvilicious) | – |
| 38 |  | Uruguay | Gonzalo Sintas (Gonzs) | – |
| 39 |  | United States | Justin Burns (Spurrific) | Jeremy Odena (JJ) |
| 40 |  | Venezuela | Gabriel Gómez (Odric) | Carlos Párica (Crazymix) |
Asia & Oceania
| # | Flag | Country/Region | Manager | Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 |  | China | Xuan Zhengyi (Luminis) | Xu Yihui (Yihui) |
| 42 |  | Hong Kong | Or Kei-yin (Cyrus) | – |
| 43 |  | India | Kunal Kanodia (Shade) | – |
| 44 |  | Indonesia | Hashegi Hanjaya (Ryuhashegi) | – |
| 45 |  | Israel | Dov Joseph Aloof (FiendRiver) | – |
| 46 |  | Japan | Yuki Kono (Forte) | Yuki Zaninovich (Yukizan) |
| 47 |  | Malaysia | Ismat Myron Beg (Ismat) | – |
| 48 |  | Philippines | Enrico Comentan (AlphaTorónado) | – |
| 49 |  | Singapore | Low Wai Yin (Textfont) | Brian Soh (Asada) |
| 50 |  | South Korea | Na Sang-hyeon (Nash) | – |
| 51 |  | Taiwan | Tsai Chien-chien (ChienX2) | – |
| 52 |  | Thailand | Chaiyawat Traiwichcha (Nontaro) | – |
| 53 |  | Vietnam | Tam Husain Syed (Arcodio) | Huynh Trung (Marin) |
| 54 |  | Australia | Paul Amedee (Mastodon) | Phil Nguyen (Aussie Phil N) |
| 55 |  | New Zealand | Aidan Jackson (Miden) | – |
Sign-ups
Players were allowed so apply as players and/or managers for their national teams. As mentioned, once managers for each team were decided, it was up to them to decide how to pick players for their roster.
Sign-ups deadline: July 4th
