Pokémon announces host city for North America International Championships 2026

The Pokémon North America International Championships (NAIC) 2026 will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, the same city that hosted this year’s edition. The competition will continue to be held in the city for the third consecutive year, although the exact location has not yet been confirmed.

With a total prize pool of more than $500,000, NAIC 2025 was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, which has a maximum capacity of about 77,000 people, and occupied nearly half of the venue for the event.

From June 13-15, the NAIC brought together top Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC), Pokémon GO and Pokémon UNITE competitors, who competed for points to qualify for the World Cup. The NAIC is a larger event that awards more championship points than a regional tournament.

In addition to the competitions, it also featured vendors and merchants offering Pokémon-related cards and products, as well as the Play Lab, which allows new players to learn the basics and functions of any game.

In the Pokémon TCG, the winners in the three categories were Annabelle Oono (Junior), Gabriel Fernandez (Senior) and Isaiah Bradner (Masters). The Masters tournament had a total of 3812 participants, making it the most popular competition.

In VGC, the three winners were Joaquín Roquett (Junior), Isaac Moreira (Senior) and Federico Camporesi (Masters). In particular, the Masters category final was a total lockout by the Italian organization NOVO Esports, with Camporesi defeating his rival and teammate Marco Hemantha Kaludura Silva.

The winner of Pokémon GO was U.S. player Payden “ItsAXN” Bingham, while Luminosity was the top team in the final stretch of the Pokémon UNITE tournament. The participants obtained key CPs that will qualify them for the. Pokémon World Championships 2025to be held from August 15-17 in Anaheim, California.