The 2026 World Championships will be held in San Francisco, CA, United States on 28–30 August 2026.
It is the 13th time that Worlds is held in the United States; the 6th time that it is held in California (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2025, 2026); and the 2nd time in San Francisco, where it was already held in 2016!
Table of Contents
Worlds invite requirements
| Rating Zone | Criteria | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| North America* | Top 80 players in the Masters Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Senior Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Junior Division in the US & Canada CP leaderboard | ||
| Europe* | Top 80 players in the Masters Division in the Europe CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Senior Division in the Europe CP leaderboard Top 20 players in the Junior Division in the Europe CP leaderboard | ||
| Latin America* | Top 60 players in the Masters Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard Top 15 players in the Senior Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard Top 15 players in the Junior Division in the Latin America CP leaderboard | ||
| Oceania* | Top 20 players in the Masters Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard Top 10 players in the Senior Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard Top 10 players in the Junior Division in the Oceania CP leaderboard | ||
| Middle East and South Africa* | Top 5 players in the Masters Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard Top 5 players in the Senior Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard Top 5 players in the Junior Division in the ME&SA CP leaderboard | ||
| Japan | Top 64 players from each age division at JCS | ||
| South Korea | Top 16 players from each age divisiton at the Trainers Cup | ||
| Asia-Pacific | Top 22 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Taiwan MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Hong Kong MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Malaysia MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Philippines MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Singapore MBL Top 10 overall players + 4 best-performing Senior/Junior players at the Thailand MBL | ||
| 2026 International Championships | Top 4 players from each age division at LAIC Top 4 players from each age division at EUIC Top 4 players from each age division at NAIC | ||
| 2026 Regional & Special Championships | The Champions from each age division of every TPCi Regional and Special Championships worldwide | ||
| 2025 World Championships | Top 4 players from each age division in the 2025 World Championships | ||
* Players earning an invite through their results in a World, International, Regional, or Special Championship, will not count against the total invitation slots for their rating zone’s CP leaderboards.
The following is the list of the Masters Division players that have qualified to the 2026 World Championships by any of the means described above.
Players in bold receive some kind of Travel Award or stipend (Tiers 1 & 2 invites in TPCi regions, top players in TPC & PKI regions). The players have been ordered with those in TA tiers first, and then alphabetically.
Latest update: 16 June 2026
North America
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Alex Arand | Milwaukee Regional Champion NAIC Top 128 |
| 2 | Regional Champion | Arsal Puri | Indianapolis Regional Champion NAIC Top 256 |
| 3 | SC Champion | Ben Grissmer | San Juan SC Champion |
| 4 | Regional Champion | Bhushan Thumsi | Orlando Regional Champion |
| 5 | Regional Champion | Carson St. Denis | Las Vegas Regional Top 4 Seattle Regional Champion Los Angeles Regional Top 8 |
| 6 | Regional Champion | Cary D’Ortona | Toronto Regional Champion EUIC Top 64 NAIC Top 256 |
| 7 | Regional Champion | Chuppa Cross IV | Pittsburgh Regional Champion |
| 8 | Regional Champion | Dylan Matthews | Pittsburgh Regional Top 4 Milwaukee Regional Top 4 Houston Regional Champion NAIC Top 16 |
| 9 | Regional Champion |  Dylan Salvanera | Las Vegas Regional Champion |
| 10 | Regional Champion | Emilio Forbes | Seattle Regional Top 4 Orlando Regional Top 8 Los Angeles Regional Champion NAIC Top 64 |
| 11 | 2025 World Champion | Giovanni Cischke | LAIC Top 16 EUIC Top 64 Houston Regional Top 8 NAIC Top 128 |
| 12 | 2025 Worlds Finalist | James Evans | Pittsburgh Regional Top 16 Las Vegas Regional Top 8 |
| 13 | 2025 Worlds Semifinalist | Montana Mott | NAIC Top 128 |
| 14 | International Champion | Paul Chua | Toronto Regional Finalist EUIC Champion Orlando Regional Top 4 |
| 15 | Regional Champion |  Stefan Mott | Monterrey Regional Champion |
| 16 | International Semifinalist | Wolfe Glick | Milwaukee Regional Top 8 Grand Challenge III Champion EUIC Top 64 Indianapolis Regional Finalist NAIC Top 4 |
| 17 | International Finalist | Zachary Weed | Pittsburgh Regional Top 16 Las Vegas Regional Finalist EUIC Finalist Orlando Regional Top 16 NAIC Top 64 |
Europe
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Aurélien Soula | Birmingham Regional Top 16 Seville SC Top 8 Utrecht Regional Champion |
| 2 | Regional Champion |  Emanuele Briganti | Frankfurt Regional Champion Grand Challenge II 2nd place Grand Challenge III Top 4 EUIC Top 256 |
| 3 | International Finalist |  Eric Rios | Grand Challenge III 2nd place LAIC Top 64 Stuttgart Regional Finalist EUIC Top 8 NAIC Finalist |
| 4 | International Champion International Semifinalist | Francesco Pio Pero | LAIC Top 32 EUIC Top 4 Turin SC Top 16 NAIC Champion |
| 5 | SC Champion |  Hermann Krumrey | Cape Town SC Champion |
| 6 | SC Champion | Juan Núñez | Grand Challenge II Top 8 Seville SC Champion |
| 7 | Regional Champion | Louis Fontvieille | EUIC Top 256 Prague Regional Champion Utrecht Regional Top 16 Turin SC Finalist |
| 8 | Regional Champion | Luca Ceribelli | Grand Challenge III Top 8 LAIC Top 32 Stuttgart Regional Champion |
| 9 | Regional Champion SC Champion | Marco Silva | Lille Regional Champion Gdańsk Regional Top 16 LAIC Top 16 Birmingham Regional Top 8 EUIC Top 128 Global Challenge Top 8 Utrecht Regional Top 4 Turin SC Champion NAIC Top 16 |
| 10 | International Semifinalist | Roberto Parente | EUIC Top 4 Seville SC Top 8 |
| 11 | Regional Champion | Simone Sanvito | Gdańsk Regional Champion Birmingham Regional Top 16 Prague Regional Top 4 |
| 12 | Regional Champion | Stefano Greppi | Lille Regional Top 16 Birmingham Regional Champion Prague Regional Top 16 NAIC Top 32 |
| 13 | International Semifinalist | Théotime Massaut | Gdańsk Regional Finalist LAIC Top 4 EUIC Top 64 NAIC Top 32 |
Latin America
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Alexander Canseco | Monterrey Regional Finalist LAIC Top 32 Mérida Regional Top 16 Querétaro Regional Champion |
| 2 | SC Champion |  Cristhian Andrade | Belo Horizonte Regional Top 4 Campinas Regional Top 8 Lima SC Champion |
| 3 | International Finalist Regional Champion |  Juan Salerno | Belo Horizonte Regional Top 16 Gdańsk Regional Top 4 Grand Challenge III Top 8 Buenos Aires SC Finalist LAIC Finalist Santiago Regional Champion EUIC Top 128 Curitiba Regional Top 16 |
| 4 | SC Champion | Kenneth Gamboa | Belo Horizonte Regional Top 8 Buenos Aires SC Champion Mérida Regional Top 4 Santiago Regional Top 8 |
| 5 | Regional Champion | Leonardo Ritter | Curitiba Regional Champion |
| 6 | Regional Champion |  Max Morales | Mérida Regional Champion Santiago Regional Top 4 |
| 7 | Regional Champion |  Renzo Navarro | Belo Horizonte Regional Champion LAIC Top 64 Lima SC Top 8 |
| 8 | Regional Champion | Sebastián Escalante | Curitiba Regional Top 4 Campinas Regional Champion |
Oceania
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regional Champion |  Drew Bliss | Sydney Regional Champion |
| 2 | Regional Champion | Nicholas Kan | Brisbane Regional Top 4 LAIC Top 16 Auckland SC Finalist EUIC Top 8 Melbourne Regional Champion |
| 3 | SC Champion | Yoav Reuven | Brisbane Regional Top 4 LAIC Top 16 Auckland SC Champion Sydney Regional Top 8 EUIC Top 128 |
Middle East & South Africa
No one from this region has earned a Worlds spot yet.
Japan
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel Award JCS Champion |  Hiroshi Onishi | JCS Champion |
| 2 | Travel Award JCS Finalist | Rintaro Arai | JCS Finalist |
| 3 | Travel Award JCS Semifinalist | Rinya Kobayashi | JCS Top 4 |
| 4 | Travel Award JCS Semifinalist | Shota Hongu | JCS Top 4 |
| 5 | JCS 5th to 64th | Aki Shibuya | JCS Top 16 |
| 6 | JCS 5th to 64th | Akito Muratsubaki | JCS Top 64 |
| 7 | JCS 5th to 64th | Ayumu Iwasaki | JCS Top 8 |
| 8 | JCS 5th to 64th | Buntaro Komori | JCS Top 32 |
| 9 | JCS 5th to 64th | Daiki Sudo | JCS Top 64 |
| 10 | JCS 5th to 64th | Eita Katagiri | JCS Top 64 |
| 11 | JCS 5th to 64th | Fumiaki Suwa | JCS Top 32 |
| 12 | JCS 5th to 64th | Gakuto Akiyama | JCS Top 64 |
| 13 | JCS 5th to 64th | Hidetsuna Shimizu | JCS Top 32 |
| 14 | 2025 Worlds Semifinalist | Hirofumi Kimura | – |
| 15 | JCS 5th to 64th | Hironori Seino | JCS Top 32 |
| 16 | JCS 5th to 64th | Hyuma Hara | JCS Top 64 |
| 17 | JCS 5th to 64th | Iruto Konno | JCS Top 32 |
| 18 | JCS 5th to 64th | Itoshi Iwadate | JCS Top 64 |
| 19 | Regional Champion JCS 5th to 64th | Kaito Arii | Brisbane Regional Champion Global Challenge Top 4 JCS Top 64 |
| 20 | JCS 5th to 64th | Katsumi Miyake | JCS Top 64 |
| 21 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kazuki Kobayashi | JCS Top 32 |
| 22 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kazuki Ogushi | EUIC Top 128 JCS Top 16 |
| 23 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kazuki Sumiya | JCS Top 16 |
| 24 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kengo Hirata | JCS Top 64 |
| 25 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kentaro Matsumoto | JCS Top 64 |
| 26 | JCS 5th to 64th | Ko Tsukide | EUIC Top 16 JCS Top 8 NAIC Top 8 |
| 27 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kohei Watanabe | JCS Top 8 |
| 28 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kota Kawabe | JCS Top 16 |
| 29 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kota Tomita | JCS Top 64 |
| 30 | JCS 5th to 64th | Kyosuke Kishibe | JCS Top 64 |
| 31 | JCS 5th to 64th | Masahiro Ito | JCS Top 16 |
| 32 | JCS 5th to 64th | Masato Fukuda | JCS Top 64 |
| 33 | JCS 5th to 64th | Masato Ii | JCS Top 16 |
| 34 | JCS 5th to 64th | Naoto Mizobuchi | JCS Top 32 |
| 35 | JCS 5th to 64th | Ryoma Okamoto | JCS Top 64 |
| 36 | JCS 5th to 64th | Ryusei Yamane | JCS Top 8 |
| 37 | JCS 5th to 64th | Saiki Kawai | JCS Top 64 |
| 38 | JCS 5th to 64th | Satoru Mutsuno | JCS Top 64 |
| 39 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shingo Yasuda | JCS Top 64 |
| 40 | JCS 5th to 64th | Sho Akiyama | JCS Top 64 |
| 41 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shohei Asakura | JCS Top 64 |
| 42 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shohei Kimura | Frankfurt Regional Top 4 Birmingham Regional Top 16 EUIC Top 16 JCS Top 32 NAIC Top 64 |
| 43 | International Semifinalist JCS 5th to 64th | Shoma Honami | EUIC Top 128 JCS Top 64 NAIC Top 4 |
| 44 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shota Fukumoto | JCS Top 64 |
| 45 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shota Nakamichi | JCS Top 64 |
| 46 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shu Inokuchi | JCS Top 32 |
| 47 | JCS 5th to 64th | Shuta Endo | JCS Top 64 |
| 48 | JCS 5th to 64th | Sota Shimatani | JCS Top 64 |
| 49 | JCS 5th to 64th | Taisei Tsukamoto | JCS Top 64 |
| 50 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takeru Mizumoto | JCS Top 32 |
| 51 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takuma Yamazaki | JCS Top 64 |
| 52 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takumi Miyamoto | JCS Top 64 |
| 53 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takumi Sakurai | JCS Top 32 |
| 54 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takumi Soma | JCS Top 16 |
| 55 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takuya Honma | JCS Top 64 |
| 56 | JCS 5th to 64th | Takuya Morii | JCS Top 64 |
| 57 | JCS 5th to 64th | Tomohiro Seki | JCS Top 32 |
| 58 | JCS 5th to 64th | Tomohisa Okuno | JCS Top 64 |
| 59 | JCS 5th to 64th | Tomoki Kinoshita | JCS Top 64 |
| 60 | JCS 5th to 64th | Yuichi Sasaki | JCS Top 64 |
| 61 | JCS 5th to 64th | Yuki Shimizu | JCS Top 32 |
| 62 | International Champion JCS 5th to 64th | Yuma Kinugawa | LAIC Champion JCS Top 32 |
| 63 | JCS 5th to 64th | Yuto Kimura | EUIC Top 32 JCS Top 16 |
| 64 | International Semifinalist | Yuya Tada | Brisbane Regional Finalist LAIC Top 4 EUIC Top 128 |
| 65 | JCS 5th to 64th | Yuya Wakasugi | JCS Top 32 |
| 66 | JCS 5th to 64th | Yuya Yamamoto | JCS Top 32 |
South Korea
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel Award (F+A) Trainers Cup Champion |  Jeongso Lee | Trainers Cup Champion |
| 2 | Travel Award (F) Trainers Cup Finalist | Junhee Lee | Trainers Cup Finalist |
| 3 | Travel Award (A) Trainers Cup Top 4 | Chanmin Lee | Trainers Cup Top 4 |
| 4 | Travel Award (A) Trainers Cup Top 4 | Sejun Park | Trainers Cup Top 4 |
| 5 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Jeongkyu Choi | Trainers Cup Top 8 |
| 6 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Jinho Park | EUIC Top 128 Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 7 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Jiseok Lee | EUIC Top 256 Trainers Cup Top 8 |
| 8 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Junhyuk Song | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 9 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Juyoung Hong | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 10 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Minseok Kim | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 11 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Sanghyeon Na | Trainers Cup Top 8 |
| 12 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Sangwoo Kim | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 13 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Seongjae Jeong | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 14 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Seongmo Byeon | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
| 15 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Suhyeon Moon | Trainers Cup Top 8 |
| 16 | Trainers Cup Top 16 | Yoonho Park | Trainers Cup Top 16 |
Asia-Pacific
| # | Criteria | Player | Best results this season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travel Award MBL Champion |  Chen Yu-Wei | Taiwan MBL Champion |
| 2 | Travel Award Taiwan MBL Semifinalist | Chyr Wei | Taiwan MBL Top 4 |
| 3 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Edward Fan | Hong Kong MBL Finalist |
| 4 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Jason Reyes | Philippines MBL Finalist |
| 5 | Travel Award MBL Champion |  Jittarin Rojmahamongkol | Thailand MBL Champion |
| 6 | Travel Award MBL Champion | Krittapas Augchariyajinda | Singapore MBL Champion |
| 7 | Travel Award MBL Finalist |  Lee Jin Yang | Singapore MBL Finalist |
| 8 | Travel Award Taiwan MBL Semifinalist | Lin Chia-Han | Taiwan MBL Top 4 |
| 9 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Liu Jian-Ting | Taiwan MBL Finalist |
| 10 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Ng Chee Woon | Malaysia MBL Finalist |
| 11 | Travel Award MBL Champion |  Ng Shiu Chung | Hong Kong MBL Champion |
| 12 | Travel Award MBL Finalist | Phatthrawat Wichiendilok | Thailand MBL Finalist |
| 13 | Travel Award MBL Champion | Sow Wei Harng | Malaysia MBL Champion |
| 14 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Adrian Tang | Hong Kong MBL Top 16 |
| 15 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Amorn Mongkhonkaewsakun | Thailand MBL Top 16 |
| 16 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Apiwat Srivilairith | Thailand MBL Top 8 |
| 17 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Brandon Chia | Malaysia MBL Top 8 |
| 18 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Chan Tsz Hung | Hong Kong MBL Top 4 |
| 19 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Chang Hao-Wei | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 20 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Cheng Chi-Hung | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 21 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Choi Pok Yin | Hong Kong MBL Top 8 |
| 22 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Christian Salmingo | Philippines MBL Top 4 |
| 23 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Duh Jenn-Chau | Taiwan MBL Top 8 |
| 24 | MBL 3rd to 10th |  Elliot Giang | Singapore MBL Top 16 |
| 25 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Ervin Tan | Singapore MBL Top 16 |
| 26 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Ethan Yang | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 27 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Francis Tai | Philippines MBL Top 4 |
| 28 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Gary Ng | Malaysia MBL Top 4 |
| 29 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Hakim Aminullah | Malaysia MBL Top 16 |
| 30 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Harrold Khoo | Singapore MBL Top 8 |
| 31 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Hayden Sheung | Hong Kong MBL Top 8 |
| 32 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Hsu Chun-Yu | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 33 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Huang Yu-Cheng | Taiwan MBL Top 8 |
| 34 | MBL 3rd to 10th |  Iain Waddingham | Thailand MBL Top 4 |
| 35 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Jeremiah Lim | Malaysia MBL Top 4 |
| 36 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Jong Dae-Jung | Thailand MBL Top 4 |
| 37 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Kevin Lan | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 38 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Lai Ming-Hsu | Taiwan MBL Top 8 |
| 39 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Lex Tan | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 40 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Liang Chih-Chun | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 41 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Lim Boon Hong | Malaysia MBL Top 16 |
| 42 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Lin Chuang-Hsuan | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 43 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Liu Chen-Wei | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 44 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Man Chun Wo | Hong Kong MBL Top 8 |
| 45 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Narawitch Naenna | Thailand MBL Top 8 |
| 46 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Nashran Mirza | Malaysia MBL Top 8 |
| 47 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Nattawarn Emasiti | Thailand MBL Top 16 |
| 48 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Ng Wei Lun | Singapore MBL Top 4 |
| 49 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Panyawut Noijan | Thailand MBL Top 8 |
| 50 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Rafi Ahmed Ansari | Hong Kong MBL Top 4 |
| 51 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Rap Perez | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 52 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Raphael Ang | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 53 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Ryan Chua | Philippines MBL Top 16 |
| 54 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Ryan Pareja | Philippines MBL Top 8 |
| 55 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Sahapol Meechunuke | Thailand MBL Top 8 |
| 56 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Sam Ng | Hong Kong MBL Top 16 |
| 57 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Sean Tan | Singapore MBL Top 8 |
| 58 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Sie Meng-Ru | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 59 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Tang Chun Ho | Hong Kong MBL Top 8 |
| 60 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Tomoyuki Tanaka | Singapore MBL Top 4 |
| 61 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Tsai Chien-Chien | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 62 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Vincent Ignacio | Philippines MBL Top 16 |
| 63 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Wang Yi-Liang | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 64 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Xu Xichen | Singapore MBL Top 8 |
| 65 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Yang Cheng-Lin | Taiwan MBL Top 32 |
| 66 | Taiwan MBL 5th to 22nd | Yang Da-Wei | Taiwan MBL Top 16 |
| 67 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Yap De Kern | Malaysia MBL Top 8 |
| 68 | MBL 3rd to 10th | Zen Soo | Malaysia MBL Top 8 |
