Pokémon European International Championships 2025 report – Miraidon domination

The first major Pokémon championship of the year has just taken place in London, as competitors compete for a place at the Worlds in California.

It’s 2025 and the trading card game competitive calendar has never busier. December saw the first round of competitive play for the Disney trading card game Lorcana and Star Wars recently announced its Unlimited Galactic Championships, which will take place in Las Vegas in July this year. As if sensing an acceleration in pace, last weekend the buzz was focused on London ExCel and the Pokémon European International Championships.

Usually held in March, but this year pushed forward to February, this was the first step for competitive Pokémon players aiming for the World Championships, that will this year return to Anaheim, California – where it was previously held in 2017.

The Pokémon World Championships began in 2004 and focused primarily on the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), but it has since grown to include dedicated competitions for Pokémon video games such as Scarlet and Violet, Pokémon Go, and Pokémon Unite. Every year, as a precursor to what is known to competitors as Worlds, the Pokémon European International Championships draw Pokémon players from all around Europe to battle it out for the chance to earn Championship Points.

2025’s event saw over 6,000 competitors from over 50 countries and regions come together, making it the largest Pokémon tournament outside of Asia. In the highly competitive tournaments, each game has its own format and set of rules, including different divisions for pros, seniors, and juniors.

Cash prizes are determined based on the amount of players in each tournament and range from around $500 (£396) for smaller player pools to around $25,000 (£19,800) for the winner of the TGC Masters division.

In order to qualify for the Pokémon TCG World Championships a player must earn an invitation, by gaining enough Championship Points by the end of the competitive season, through placing high enough or winning official Pokémon tournaments.

There was more than enough drama to keep spectators happy during the finals on Sunday. The early start for the Pokémon Unite Aeos Cup didn’t dampen the shouts from the raucous crowd in attendance, where Team Luminosity (Canada) won the final with a respectable 3-1 against Peru (Latin America) and the first of many Miraidon victories.

This year’s TCG Masters final happened so fast that if you blinked you missed it, as finalist Natalie Millar conceded to Ryuki Okada after just 40 seconds. Meanwhile, Brit Oliver Cahill defeated Andreas Ketels of Belgium in the TCG Junior finals 2-0. That pleased the home crowd, who had been upset that VGC Masters hopeful Dyl Yeomans crashed out earlier in the day.

In the Junior Video Game Championships, German player Fabian Musikant won the final against France’s Ismael Hoggui. In the Senior final, US player Ian Larson defeated French player Louis Fontvieille. Then, in the Masters VGC final, to close proceedings, the Miraidon action was back in full force as US player Wolfe Glick defeated Brit Dyl Yeomans 2-1 – although it was Incineroar and his skill with the Perish Trap team that won the day.

The only thing that was missing was humility, as the cocky Wolfe took to the stage to call out the 1,400 players who came to compete saying, ‘1,400 people showed up to this tournament hoping and dreaming to win the entire thing… but it wasn’t enough!’

Later in the day, Chris Brown, Director of Global Esports and Events Producer at The Pokémon Company International, took part in a press round table and when asked how he hopes to keep the event fresh and relevant in a growing field he replied: ‘What we do here, I think, is pretty unique. First, you know, we’re a multi-title esport event. There’s only really one other group that does multi-title, which is fighting game tournaments.

‘The unique for us is we’re the only sport with multiple age divisions: juniors, seniors, and masters; all playing together and finding success in their own division is important for us. So, I think in our case it’s not so much looking at what others are doing. It’s just doing the best we can for what our strategy is, which is to continue to grow family friendly, open tournaments that is inclusive and brings people together. And if we keep doing that, I think we will continue to grow.’

As usual, there were huge queues for the pop-up Pokémon Center, fuelled by the 13,000 attendees present this year. It was themed around the Year of Eevee Celebration, with fans keen to get their hands on some exclusive merchandise featuring Psyduck and Ogerpon, which were the must-have items.

This year, we also had a special treat with an exhibition on the show floor of some of the artwork of beloved Pokémon illustrators, such as Keiichiro Ito, who was responsible for the popular Umbreon VMAX card of the moment – which is currently selling for around £2,000 on eBay. Yuka Morii, Shinji Kanda, and Yuu Nishida were also in attendance and available for personalised autographs.

If you had a sharp eye, you might also have noticed that the Yuka Morii claymation models changed slightly each day. Morii has previously revealed that she draws her inspiration from Monty Python animations and Mr Blobby, so she was perfect for an outing to London.

As the newly crowned champions stepped off the stage at London’s ExCeL the spotlight now shifts to the North American International Championships in New Orleans this June. That event marks the final major showdown for many competitors, before everything culminates at the 2025 World Championship in Anaheim this August.

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