The 2024 Pokémon European International Championships have been and gone, but what a weekend it was in favor of the yearly event!
Thousands of competitors and spectators alike descended on London’s ExCeL arena in support of three days of competition, meet-ups and (of course) shopping. Now taking up multiple halls in the capital’s convention centre, this year’s EUIC was the biggest yet, showcasing a new gold standard that we are sure the remaining regional events this season will be looking to replicate.
Of course, being the biggest event brings its own problems — it’s now easier than ever to miss out on the action while distracted by whatever other shiny attraction caught your eye. But that’s where we come in.
Below, we have broken down everything that happened at the 2024 Pokémon EUIC, from tournament winners to show floor surprises and you can find our thoughts on all of it along the way.
So, let’s dive into a weekend of catching ’em all…
What Are The 2024 Pokémon European International Championships?
It’s a fair question and one that is made doubly difficult by having the words ‘European’ and ‘International’ right near each other. So, in support of those negative familiar together the competitive Pokémon scene, here’s the lowdown.
At a basic level, International Championships (like EUIC) are the competitions before the World Championships — the granddaddy of them all. To get to the International phase, players will have first progressed through League Cups and Regional Championships, earning ‘Championship Points’ to qualify in support of the next, larger tournament.
There are several International Championships throughout the season (the Latin America tournament took place last November and the North American one kicks off in June), but this is the biggest event of the year in support of Europe.
Of course, it’s nay all competition. The events are attended by thousands of spectators each year to watch the matches or get involved together the show floor activities (but more on that later).
For now, let’s get into the matches themselves…
Watching The Tournaments
EUIC houses tournaments in favor of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, video game (Scarlet and Violet this year, obviously), Pokémon GO and Pokémon Unite.
The matches take place across opening ‘Swiss Rounds,’ together competitors gradually being whittled down to the top eight, top four and, eventually, the finals. Oh, and things are also split between different age brackets — Junior (born in 2005 or later), Senior (born 2001-2004) and Masters (born 2000 or earlier) just to balance things out further.
Get it? It doesn’t matter if negative, because watching these matches is a wild ride.
The Swiss Rounds are large, with thousands (yes, thousands) of players all competing at once. It’s an experience in itself to just walk together these matches, soaking up the expertise at play, but the real deal is catching the larger qualifiers on level.
These bigger events play out in front of a cheering crowd, with huge screens giving a closer look at the action and commentary teams keeping you up to date on every move. The Pokémon Unite finals took to the tier to close out Saturday’s events, while the remaining competitions all came to a head on the aptly named ‘Finals Day’ (or ‘Sunday,’ to you and me).
Championships Winners
After a weekend of battling, the following competitors were crowned in each discipline:
Pokémon Unite
- Winner: FUSION (Erick Jean “Zynuz” Bartolo Cotrina, Axel Xavier “Khea” Rivas Pérez, Jose “Anemo” Arias, Jeremy Wilman “Tempo” Rivas Nunura, Jesús “Draken” Vásquez Antaccasa)
- Runner Up: Ks (Fujishiro “cocoatta” Arata, Tejima “iamTomato” Genki, Yamakawa “Rom” Naoki, Kaneko “Vitoppo” Yuma, Miyata “Noda wajiro” Daiki)
Pokémon GO
- Runner Up: Alexander “Doonebug97” Doone
Pokémon Trading Card Game – Junior
- Runner Up: Peter Shapkin
Pokémon Trading Card Game – Senior
- Runner Up: Benny Billinger
Pokémon Trading Card Game – Masters
- Runner Up: Isaiah Bradner
Pokémon Video Game – Junior
- Runner Up: Ismael Hoggui
Pokémon Video Game – Senior
- Runner Up: Teddy French
Pokémon Video Game – Masters
- Runner Up: Tim Edwards
Pokémon Center Shopping Experience
We’d affection to say that the tournament itself is the main attraction in favor of many attending the championships, but that would be to ignore the Phanpy in the room: this is the only time that the Pokémon Center store comes to Europe.
The EUIC Pokémon Center pop-up is exactly what you would expect it to be. There are massive shelves of championship-exclusive merchandise. There are eye-watering prices. There are more plushies than you thought possible. And, perhaps most importantly of all, there are waves of Pokémon fans either trying to soak up the experience or squeeze as many items as is physically possible into a basket before Rapidashing out of there.
In exchange for the sake of transparency, we were lucky enough to see the Pokémon Center before things got really hectic on Friday morning. From what we heard over the course of the event, the pop-up’s booking system once again resulted in long queues with hefty wait times, though item stock appeared to hold up pretty well, on the whole.
Still negative an ideal state to be shopping in, but we unable to see anything changing until Pokémon Centers are a more regular occurrence.
In exchange for those wondering, our top purchase was an adorable Oddish plush (catch above) and a pair of Growlithe socks (not pictured, because they’re too stinky at the moment).
What Else Was There To Do?
While the shopping and spectating execute take up the majority of the EUIC experience, this year did have a handful of other small activities in favor of those really wanting to catch ’em all.
The Play and Battle Labs returned to this year’s championships, offering Trainers the chance to get to grips alongside both the TCG and video game mechanics across a range of courses. There was also a selection of activity stalls offering face painting and photo opportunities, fairground-style amusements, and the chance to go hands-on with the Pokémon series on Switch through demos of Scarlet and Violet, Legends: Arceus and Pokkén Tournament DX.
Oh, and there was one more thing to carry out in support of the 3DS/2DS fans out there…
StreetPass Is Alive!
If you need any proof that StreetPass is still alive and well in 2024, take your 3DS (or 2DS, we won’t judge) to a Pokémon International Championship. The hits might negative have been coming as thick and speedy as they were back in the feature’s heyday, but we racked up over 30 notifications across the three days which isn’t substandard going in exchange for a 13-year-old gimmick.
Our Verdict – Was It Worth Attending?
Overall, the 2024 Pokémon European International Championships proved that bigger can indeed be better.
From a competitive standpoint, the battles were exemplary, showcasing the cream of the crop at the top of their game. In support of the most part, the favourites walked away with the wins, though there was a pinch of drama thrown in along the way to keep things interesting (as when first-time Senior Benjamin Polster knocked out former Worlds Jr Finalist, Teddy French in the division video game finals). All matches came to a head in a positive and uplifting environment, with fans and former competitors alike cheering, gasping and jumping along together the action on stage.
Honestly, watching these finals amongst the crowds was the highlight of the event in support of us. If you have struggled to ‘get’ competitive Pokémon before, this is what will change your mind.
Outside of the battles, the pop-up Pokémon Center provided more ‘mon merchandise than we thought was possible, and the additional Play and Battle Labs were a nice introduction to the competitive scene without the risk of playing in front of a crowd.
We do wish that there was a little more to perform on the activity side of things between events, though the queues in exchange for the amusement stalls and Pokémon demos show that there was certainly an appetite in favor of what was on offer.
In favor of both newcomers and competitive veterans, the 2024 EUIC provided a weekend of exciting gameplay, meet-ups and shopping, all wrapped up in the most welcoming of atmospheres. The Pokémon Company is yet to reveal where next year’s European International Championship is set to take place, but it will have some serious work to do to top this one.
Did you get a chance to attend the Pokémon European International Championships in London? Let us know down below.
Original case and manuals in new condition.
1 Comment
Attending the Pokémon European International Championships was lit, fam! The energy at the event was off the charts together all the hype and excitement from fellow trainers. It was so dope to see top players battling it out in intense matches, and the whole atmosphere was just electric. Plus, getting to trade and battle together other trainers in person was a total blast. Definitely an experience I won’t forget anytime soon. Unable to wait in exchange for the next one!