| Event | 2026 North America International Championships (NAIC) |
|---|---|
| Location |  New Orleans, LA, United States |
| Date | 12–14 June 2026 |
| Capacity | Undisclosed |
| Videogame | Pokémon Champions |
| Season | 2026 Season – Regulation Set M-A |
| Format | 2-phase Swiss rounds + asymmetrical Top Cut Open Team Lists |
| Organizers | The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) Gaming Gen |
Check TPCi’s website here for further info!
Table of Contents
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through RK9 Labs platform, and you will first need to set up your RK9 profile and have a Play! Pokémon Player ID.
Sign-ups cost will be known soon, and they open in waves:
- Wave 1 on 14 April at 7 pm CDT (15 April at 00:00 UTC)
- Wave 2 on 15 April at 9 am CDT (14:00 UTC)
- A wave 3 of sign-ups was later announced to open on 7 May at 7 pm CDT (8 May at 00:00 UTC)
If the player cap is not reached, sign-ups close one week before the event, on 7 June at 11:59 pm CDT (04:59 UTC).
For registered players, team lists must be submitted 3 hour before the event starts, by 12 June at 6 am CDT (11:00 UTC).
Multi-day spectator passes are $30, while single-day passes (for Friday, Saturday or Sunday) are $15. All of them can be purchased from 15 April at 7 pm CDT (16 April at 00:00 UTC) here.
NAIC Travel Award recipients
The players with most Championship Points (CP) in the Travel Award standings from each TPCi region at the end of the NAIC Travel Award period (24 November 2025 to 15 February 2026) earned Travel Award prizes for this tournament:
- Top 4 players in Europe, Latin America and Oceania receive a $3,500 Travel Award ($5,000 for minors)
- Top 4 players in North America receive a $2,000 Travel Award ($2,500 for minors)
- Players ranked 5th to 8th in each region receive a $1,000 Travel Stipend
- Top 16 players in North America, Europe, Latin America and Oceania receive priority registration.
The following are the final NAIC Travel Award standings for each region:
Click on the tabs to check out the NAIC Travel Award standings for each region! 
| # | Player | CP | TA | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Paul Chua |
909 | $2,000 | Yes |
| 2 | Cary D’Ortona |
654 | $2,000 | Yes |
| 3 | Justin Tang |
615 | $2,000 | Yes |
| 4 | Zachary Weed |
537 | $2,000 | Yes |
| 5 | William Brown |
528 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 6 | Austin Le |
511 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 7 |  Enrique Grimaldo |
495 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 8 |  Kylan Van Severen |
460 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 9 | Dorian Kang |
433 | – | Yes |
| 10 | Kian Campbell |
388 | – | Yes |
| 11 | Tanner Torr |
385 | – | Yes |
| 12 |  Brian Collins |
385 | – | Yes |
| 13 | Cayden Owens |
372 | – | Yes |
| 14 | Peter Chen |
365 | – | Yes |
| 15 |  Eric Stuart |
365 | – | Yes |
| 16 | Joshua Denk |
358 | – | Yes |
| 17 | Zach Holowiak |
357 | – | – |
| 18 | Aaron Brok |
355 | – | – |
| 19 |  Fiona Szymkiewicz |
352 | – | – |
| 20 | Richard Wan |
349 | – | – |
| # | Player | CP | TA | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eric Rios |
1104 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 2 |  Eduardo Cunha |
841 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 3 |  Michael Kelsch |
787 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 4 | Àlex Gómez |
780 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 5 |  Flavio Del Pidio |
744 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 6 | Marco Silva |
724 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 7 | Giuseppe Musicco |
645 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 8 | Víctor Jiménez |
601 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 9 | Francesco Pio Pero |
580 | – | Yes |
| 10 | Roberto Parente |
574 | – | Yes |
| 11 | Stefano Greppi |
573 | – | Yes |
| 12 | Nils Dunlop |
547 | – | Yes |
| 13 |  Frederik Høj Nielsen |
534 | – | Yes |
| 14 | Louis Markl |
530 | – | Yes |
| 15 |  Livio Sandberg |
526 | – | Yes |
| 16 |  Théotime Massaut |
504 | – | Yes |
| 17 | Luca Ceribelli |
502 | – | – |
| 18 | Lorenzo Sollini |
499 | – | – |
| 19 |  Marcus Koh |
490 | – | – |
| 20 | Davide Cauteruccio |
487 | – | – |
| # | Player | CP | TA | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenneth Gamboa | 853 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 2 | Arath Vera | 765 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 3 |  Sebastián Rodríguez | 726 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 4 |  Juan Salerno | 714 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 5 | Alexander Canseco | 685 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 6 | Juan Mejía | 667 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 7 |  Max Morales | 650 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 8 | Renzo Navarro | 554 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 9 |  Júlio Eller | 493 | – | Yes |
| 10 |  Paul Ruiz | 493 | – | Yes |
| 11 | Víctor Manoath | 378 | – | Yes |
| 12 | Juan Pablo Cambón | 375 | – | Yes |
| 13 | Diego Ortiz | 372 | – | Yes |
| 14 | Yan Sym | 365 | – | Yes |
| 15 |  Matías Díaz | 362 | – | Yes |
| 16 | Thiago Lattanzi | 355 | – | Yes |
| 17 | Michael Navas | 347 | – | – |
| 18 | Rodrigo Tapia | 335 | – | – |
| 19 | Gabriel Agati | 327 | – | – |
| 20 | Rafael Cassemiro | 326 | – | – |
| # | Player | CP | TA | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Nicholas Kan | 1050 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 2 | Yoav Reuven | 1008 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 3 | Chloe Bourke | 718 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 4 | Dimitri Koziaris | 709 | $3,500 | Yes |
| 5 | Luke Iuele | 624 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 6 | Toby Kongmun | 611 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 7 | Christian Mossati | 570 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 8 | Drew Bliss | 548 | $1,000 | Yes |
| 9 | Andy Brophy | 535 | – | Yes |
| 10 | Matthew Robinson | 525 | – | Yes |
| 11 |  Guilherme Schilling | 485 | – | Yes |
| 12 |  Joji Kaieda | 485 | – | Yes |
| 13 | Mitch Kendrick | 430 | – | Yes |
| 14 | Timothy Nurse | 365 | – | Yes |
| 15 | Christopher Gibson | 350 | – | Yes |
| 16 | Christopher Ramsay | 349 | – | Yes |
| 17 | Thomas Dervan | 302 | – | – |
| 18 | Kynan Campbell | 300 | – | – |
| 19 | Caleb Wijesinha | 299 | – | – |
| 20 | Jack Woodsford | 291 | – | – |
Venue and schedule
The tournament will be held in the following location:
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
900 Convention Center Blvd
New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
Badge pick-up can be done in two different locations:
- Airport (Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport): badges can be picked up on Wednesday 10 June from 10 am to 8 pm, or on Thursday 11 June from 9 am to 8 pm.
- Venue (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center): badges can be picked up on Thursday 11 June from 10 am to 8 pm or early on Friday from 7 am. Senior and Junior players can pick them up until 8 pm or early on Saturday from 8 am.
Masters players must be in the venue by 12 June at 9 am CDT (14:00 UTC) for the players meeting. The tournament starts thereafter with the Swiss rounds.
Masters players still on the run in Day 2, as well as all Senior and Junior players, must be in the venue by 13 June at 9 am CDT (14:00 UTC) for the team checks. The next Swiss rounds and the Top Cut will be played thereafter.
Finals are held on Championship Sunday, 14 June at around 4 pm CDT (21:00 UTC) for Juniors, then Seniors, then Masters. These matches are played after Pokémon UNITE, Pokémon GO and Pokémon TCG finals.
Prizes
This event is part of the 2026 official TPCi circuit and thus it rewards Championship Points (CPs).
Check TPCi’s website for the participants’ welcome kit.
Additionally, the best-placed players will receive the following CPs, prize money and Pokémon TCG booster packs depending on final attendance:
The greatest events on a season are International Championships (IC), which happen only a handful of times a year, and award the greatest amounts of CP and prizes.
For the 2026 season, there’s one for Europe, North America and Latin America, while players from the other regions of the TPCi program (Oceania, Middle East & South Africa) may also attend freely and also earn Championship Points and Prize Money. Players from other programs (TPC or Pokémon Korea) may attend and earn rewards, but not Championship Points.
Players must have a Pokémon Trainer Club account with a Player ID attached, and must have opted in to the Play! Pokémon program in order to earn points and awards.
- BFL: 5 (shared with Regionals and Specials)
- Max CP obtainable (2026 Worlds Invite): 1500 CP
| Placement | Championship Points | Kicker |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | Invite to the 2026 World Championships 500 CP | 0 |
| Finalist | Invite to the 2026 World Championships 480 CP | 4 |
| Semifinalists | Invite to the 2026 World Championships 420 CP | 8 |
| 5th to 8th | 380 CP | 17 |
| 9th to 16th | 300 CP | 33 |
| 17th to 32nd | 240 CP | 65 |
| 33rd to 64th | 180 CP | 129 |
| 65th to 128th | 140 CP | 257 |
| 129th to 256th | 100 CP | 513 |
| 257th to 512th | 80 CP | 1025 |
| 513th to 1024th | 40 CP | 2049 |
International Championships award prize money as cash, scholarship or a Visa Prepaid Card depending on the amount and age of the receiver. The prizes are in US dollars (USD) and subject to applicable tax withholding.
Players must have a Pokémon Trainer Club account with a Player ID attached, and must have opted in to the Play! Pokémon program in order to earn points and awards.
| Placement | Juniors & Seniors | Masters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 USD | $15,000 USD |
| 2 | $3,000 USD | $10,000 USD |
| 3-4 | $2,000 USD | $7,000 USD |
| 5-8 | $1,000 USD | $5,000 USD |
| 9-16 | – | $3,000 USD |
| 17-32 | – | $2,000 USD |
International Championships also award Pokémon TCG booster packs as additional prizing for top players. The amount of booster packs given to a player depends on their placement and on the amount of players in their age division.
| Players per age division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placement | <33 | 33-64 | 65-128 | 129-256 | 257-512 | 513-1024 | 1025-2048 | 2049+ |
| Champion | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Finalist | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Semifinalists | 36 | 72 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 5th to 8th | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 9th to 16th | 9 | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 108 |
| 17th to 32nd | 18 | 18 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | ||
| 33rd to 64th | 9 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | |||
| 65th to 128th | 18 | 18 | 36 | 36 | ||||
| 129th to 256th | 9 | 18 | 18 | |||||
| 257th to 512th | 9 | |||||||
Overview
The North America International Championships, or NAIC, is one of the three official TPCi International events for Pokémon VGC, Pokémon TCG, Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITE, alongside the Latin America and Europe Internationals. For VGC, it is the third and last Internationals of the 2026 season.
It is the eighth edition of NAIC. It has been celebrated yearly since the 2017 season, except in 2020 and 2021. See the results of the previous editions:
- 2017, won by Christopher Kan
- 2018, won by Jeremy Rodrigues
- 2019, won by Wolfe Glick, 2016 World Champion
- 2022, won by James Evans, 2018 Senior Division World Champion and eventual 2025 Worlds finalist
- 2023, won by Àlex Gómez
- 2024, won by Patrick Connors
- 2025, won by Federico Camporesi, 2023 Worlds semifinalist
This is the first International Championships to be played with Pokémon Champions!
The ruleset is Regulation Set M-A, and it is played using open team lists.
A little bit of history
The United States has been part of the North America region of the official TPCi circuit since the very beginning, also being home to the TPCi headquarters. It has hosted multiple major events, including Regional Championships, old-era National Championships, all editions of the North America International Championships and most World Championships (only excluding 2013, 2022 and 2023). The United States’ greatest VGC success are the five World Championship wins achieved by Ray Rizzo (2010, 2011 and 2012), Wolfe Glick (2016) and Giovanni Cischke (2025), not even counting being the home country of 7 Senior Division and 7 Junior Division World Champions too.
The most recent tournament held in the United States was the 2026 Indianapolis Regional, also played with the VGC Regulation Set M-A the month before.
The last time the North America International Championships were held was the 2025 edition (coincidentally also the last time there was an event in the state of Louisiana), also hosted in New Orleans and played in Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet with the VGC Regulation Set I in June 2025. The finals saw 2023 Worlds semifinalist Federico Camporesi defeat 3-time International Champion Marco Silva to win his first International Championship title!
American James Evans, the 2018 Senior Division World Champion, defeated Brazilian Gabriel Agati in the NAIC finals.
