| Event | 2026 Grand Challenge I |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Date | 5–7 September 2025 |
| Attendance | 5500 MA + 136 SR + 75 JR (Players eligible for Championship Points) |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2026 Season – VGC Regulation Set H |
| Format | In-game ladder competition |
| Organizer | The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) |
Table of Contents
Results
Championship Point payouts were confirmed on 17 September 2025.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1847.1 |  | Davide Fazio (♥LOVE♥Deiv) | 75 CP (EU) |  |
| 2 | 1837.0 |  | Héctor Sánchez (Layla) | 65 CP (EU) | |
| 3 | 1808.3 |  | Joji Kaieda (S) | 75 CP (OC) | |
| 4 | 1806.4 |  | Michael Kelsch | 54 CP (EU) | |
| 5 | 1806.3 |  | Marcus Koh (Calculus) | 54 CP (EU) | |
| 6 | 1802.9 |  | Nikolaj Høj Nielsen (Nikolaj_H) | 52 CP (EU) | |
| 7 | 1801.4 |  | Toler Webb (Toler) | 75 CP (NA) | |
| 8 | 1799.9 |  | Koen van Cann (KoonKy) | 52 CP (EU) | |
| 9 | 1794.6 | | Waleed Helmy (Voidbunni) | 65 CP (NA) | |
| 10 | 1793.4 | | Stefano Greppi (Ste) | 52 CP (EU) | |
| 11 | 1792.1 | | Zach Holowiak | 54 CP (NA) | |
| 12 | ? | | Simone Sanvito | 52 CP (EU) | |
| 13 | 1788.1 | | Juan Borreguero (Mithos) | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 14 | ? |  | Justin Miranda-Radbord | 54 CP (NA) | |
| 15 | ? | | Giovanni Costa | 52 CP (NA) | |
| 16 | 1787.2 | | Francesco Ballerini (Ballero72) | 25 CP (EU) |  |
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 1785.6 |  | Oscar Princivalle (Swamp) | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 18 | 1783.4 |  | Peng Chongjun (大卡) | 52 CP (NA) | |
| 19 | 1783.3 | | Mark Mullender (Mark) | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 20 | ? | | Aaron Brok | 52 CP (NA) | |
| 21 | 1781.4 | | Kusha Kanani (Busha) | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 22 | ? |  | Mattie Morgan | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 23 | 1778.9 | | Tang Shiliang (20亮亮) | 52 CP (NA) | |
| 24 | 1778.3 | | Bart van Doorn (Trabje) | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 25 | 1777.8 |  | Alexavier Alvarez (Areku) | 25 CP (NA) | |
| 26 | ? | | Víctor Medina | 25 CP (EU) | |
| 27 | ? |  | Oliver Eskolin | 13 CP (EU) | |
| 28 | 1775.5 | | Javier Corrales | 13 CP (EU) | |
| 29 | 1773.8 |  | Eduardo Cunha | 13 CP (EU) | |
| 30 | 1773.6 | | Sam Pletcher (LuxioBro) | 25 CP (NA) | |
| 31 | ? | ? | ? | ? * | |
| 32 | ? | ? | ? | ? * |
* Spanish player Pablo López was either 31st or 32nd, earning 13 CP (EU). Their exact rank is unknown.
Top 16 standings per rating zone
Check here the separate Championship Point standings 
There were 2489 MA + 60 SR + 34 JR players in North America: the Top 1024 Masters players received Championship Points.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | Team | # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1801.4 | | Toler Webb (Toler) | 75 CP | | 9 | 1777.8 | | Alexavier Alvarez (Areku) | 25 CP | | |
| 2 | 1794.6 | | Waleed Helmy (Voidbunni) | 65 CP | | 10 | 1773.6 | | Sam Pletcher (LuxioBro) | 25 CP | | |
| 3 | 1792.1 | | Zach Holowiak | 54 CP | 11 | ? | | Emmanuel Boctor | 25 CP | |||
| 4 | ? | | Justin Miranda-Radbord | 54 CP | 12 | ? | | Wolfe Glick | 25 CP | |||
| 5 | ? | | Giovanni Costa | 52 CP | 13 | 1766.5 | | Kylan Van Severen (Kylan) | 25 CP | | ||
| 6 | 1783.4 | | Peng Chongjun (大卡) | 52 CP | | 14 | 1763.5 | | Zachary Weed | 25 CP | ||
| 7 | ? | | Aaron Brok | 52 CP | 15 | ? | | Tanner Mask | 25 CP | |||
| 8 | 1778.9 | | Tang Shiliang (20亮亮) | 52 CP | | 16 | ? | | Erik Holmstrom | 25 CP |
There were 1960 MA + 45 SR + 20 JR players in Europe: the Top 512 Masters players received Championship Points.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | Team | # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1847.1 | | Davide Fazio (♥LOVE♥Deiv) | 75 CP | | 9 | 1788.1 | | Juan Borreguero (Mithos) | 25 CP | | |
| 2 | 1837.0 | | Héctor Sánchez (Layla) | 65 CP | | 10 | 1787.2 | | Francesco Ballerini (Ballero72) | 25 CP | | |
| 4 | 1806.4 | | Michael Kelsch | 54 CP | | 11 | 1785.6 | | Oscar Princivalle (Swamp) | 25 CP | | |
| 4 | 1806.3 | | Marcus Koh (Calculus) | 54 CP | | 12 | 1783.3 | | Mark Mullender (Mark) | 25 CP | ||
| 5 | 1802.9 | | Nikolaj Høj Nielsen (Nikolaj_H) | 52 CP | | 13 | 1781.4 | | Kusha Kanani (Busha) | 25 CP | | |
| 6 | 1799.9 | | Koen van Cann (KoonKy) | 52 CP | | 14 | ? | | Mattie Morgan | 25 CP | ||
| 7 | 1793.4 | | Stefano Greppi (Ste) | 52 CP | | 15 | 1778.3 | | Bart van Doorn (Trabje) | 25 CP | ||
| 8 | ? | | Simone Sanvito | 52 CP | 16 | ? | | Víctor Medina | 25 CP |
There were 790 MA + 16 SR + 17 JR players in Latin America: the Top 256 Masters players received Championship Points.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | Team | # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1771.1 |  | Caio Lattanzi (caiovibora) | 75 CP | | 9 | ? |  | Jeshua Rivera | 25 CP | ||
| 2 | 1757.3 |  | Juan Salerno (Juanfi) | 65 CP | | 10 | 1726.8 | | Pedro Feitosa (Static) | 25 CP | | |
| 3 | ? |  | Paul Ruiz | 54 CP | 11 | 1726.8 |  | Sebastián Lobos (Seba) | 25 CP | | ||
| 4 | ? |  | Gabriel Peralta | 54 CP | 12 | ? | | Rogério Catel | 25 CP | |||
| 5 | ? | | Cristhian Andrade | 52 CP | 13 | 1720.0 | | Gustavo Kengo (KENGO) | 25 CP | |||
| 6 | ? | | Marcus Centurión | 52 CP | 14 | ? |  | Diego Gutiérrez | 25 CP | |||
| 7 | 1732.7 | | Antonio Marco Rodrigo (EXHOUL) | 52 CP | | 15 | ? | | Cristóbal Carrasco | 25 CP | ||
| 8 | ? | | Renzo Navarro | 52 CP | 16 | ? | | Diego Pavón | 25 CP |
There were 235 MA + 12 SR + 4 JR players in Oceania: the Top 64 Masters players received Championship Points.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | Team | # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1808.3 | | Joji Kaieda (S) | 75 CP | | 9 | ? | ? | Wbscg | 25 CP * | ||
| 2 | 1773.1 |  | Daniel Quek | 65 CP | 10 | ? | | Christian Mossati | 25 CP | |||
| 3 | ? |  | Trent Sayer | 54 CP | 11 | ? | | Mike Barnes | 25 CP | |||
| 4 | ? | | Jack Roth | 54 CP | 12 | ? |  | Đạt Lương | 25 CP | |||
| 5 | ? | | Nicholas Kan | 52 CP | 13 | ? | | Timothy Nurse | 25 CP | |||
| 6 | ? | | Yoav Reuven | 52 CP | 14 | ? | | Mitch Kendrick | 25 CP | |||
| 7 | 1724.2 | | Sam Pandelis (♥Misaka♥) | 52 CP | | 15 | 1707.4 | | Dimitri Koziaris (DimtheSim) | 25 CP | | |
| 8 | ? | | Drew Bliss | 52 CP | 16 | 1706.7 | | Henry Rich | 25 CP | |
There were 26 MA + 3 SR + 0 JR players in Middle East & South Africa: the Top 4 Masters players received Championship Points.
| # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | Team | # | Rating | Flag | Player | Prize | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ? |  | Sanjeev Balkishun | 75 CP | 3 | ? | | Shikara Balkishun | 54 CP | |||
| 2 | ? | | Chad Hull | 65 CP | 4 | ? |  | Helmy Ben Messaoud | 54 CP |
Platform and schedule
The tournament is held online, in your Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet game, at the Online competitions section of the Poké Portal’s Battle Stadium.
The tournament starts on 5 September 2025 at 00:00 UTC. You will be able to play up to 15 battles on 5 September, up to 30 battles by 6 September and up to 45 battles by 7 September. You will be able to enter any battle until 7 September 2025 at 23:59 UTC.
Prizes
This event is an official Online Competition, and is part of the 2026 official circuit in all regions governed by TPCi, that is: North America, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and Middle East & Africa.
As a participation prize, any player that finishes at least three battles will receive 100,000 League Points, a Gold Bottle Cap and an Ability Patch.
Players are warned that only one user can participate per Nintendo account, even if they are playing both Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in the same account. Playing with both versions of the game may result in penalties.
For the first time ever, Championship Points will be awarded separately for each region, so there will be different standings for North America, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and Middle East & South Africa.
| Placement | Championship Points | Kicker (for each rating zone) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 75 CP | 0 |
| 2nd | 65 CP | 8 |
| 3rd and 4th | 54 CP | 17 |
| 5th to 8th | 52 CP | 33 |
| 9th to 16th | 25 CP | 48 |
| 17th to 32nd | 13 CP | 65 |
| 33rd to 64th | 11 CP | 128 |
| 65th to 128th | 7 CP | 257 |
| 129th to 256th | 5 CP | 513 |
| 257th to 512th | 4 CP | 1025 |
| 513th to 1024th | 3 CP | 2049 |
Overview
The 2026 Grand Challenge I is an official Online Competition featuring double battles, and is region-locked. It is the 15th VGC-relevant Online Competition in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games for players in the TPCi regions, the 5th Grand Challenge in these games, and the first in the 2026 season.
It is played with VGC Regulation Set H. This returning ruleset was last used in a Grand Challenge in December 2024!
A little bit of history
Online Competitions are usually a part of the casual gameplay, but they have been featured in the official circuit for some years now. They are one of the few tournaments in which all world regions play together, and it generally grants National invites in TPC regions and Championship Points in TPCi regions.
The most recent Online Competition for players in the TPCi regions was the 2025 Grand Challenge IV, played in May 2025 with the VGC Regulation Set I. First place was achieved by 2025 Gdańsk Regional Champion Federico Camporesi, who earned a rating of 1798 and 170 CP to win his second Grand Challenge of the season, after also winning the previous one. Federico beat 2022 Lille Regional Finalist Giulio Tarlao, who earned 160 CP.
This is a returning ruleset! The last Regulation Set H Grand Challenge was the 2025 Grand Challenge III, played in December 2024. As mentioned above, first place was also achieved by 2025 Gdańsk Regional Champion Federico Camporesi, who earned a rating of 1813 and 170 CP to win his first Grand Challenge. Federico beat American player JackPTK, who earned 160 CP.
American James Evans, the 2018 Senior Division World Champion, defeated Brazilian Gabriel Agati in the NAIC finals.
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through your own Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet game, only available if the Online Competition settings are configured to any TPCi region (that is, any region excluding Asia-Pacific).
To register, enter the Poké Portal → Battle Stadium → Online competitions → Search for a competition (in the Official Competitions column).
You will need to register and lock a team at the time of registration.
Sign-ups are open from 28 August at 00:00 UTC until 4 September at 23:59 UTC, when the tournament starts.
