For those who care about the competitive side of Pokémon, the World Championships are the most important event of the year and in 2022 it finally returns.

Due to the pandemic the tournaments which make up the World Championships were not hosted in 2020 and 2021. While it was announced that they would be returning in 2022, we did not have a date for it and a solid confirmation that no cancellations would happen.

This changes as an announcement reveals that 18th to 21st August would see them return.

“Worlds is now a four-day event, with exciting activities for players and spectators alike. The very best Pokémon Trainers will be vying for the title of World Champion, but that’s only the beginning of the fun—other activities will be available for all Pokémon fans,” said announcement reads.

For those wondering why plurals are used in the naming conventions here, it’s because Worlds is actually several tournaments all run simultaneously for the various arms of Pokémon.

The Trading Card Game (TCG), mainline videogames (Sword and Shield), Pokkén Tournament DX and Pokémon Go will all be separate tournaments to crown their own world champions. Inside of these tournaments there are also age brackets so there will be many winners emerging from the four days of play.

The Pokémon World Championships 2022 will be taking place in London at the ExCeL exhibition centre. The tournaments are usually hosted somewhere in North America but London was chosen for the latest iteration as Galar – the fictional region where Sword and Shield take place – is based on on London and the UK in general.

Worlds is an an invite-only event for players who have qualified through various sanctioned events which have happened in person and online between now and going back to 2019. While usually only a single year-long season is used for this, the pandemic has caused problems so those with earned invites have it carried over.

Spectators, however, can still attend by buying a spectator badge for a “nominal fee”. Those without an invite will still want to go to buy exclusive merch which is only available in person at the event, as well as to play in some side tournaments that are usually offered.

For those of us at home there will be livestreams to watch and it’s usually worth tuning in on the first and final days to see reveals. We wouldn’t be surprised if the new Scarlet and Violet games get a new trailer or some other reveal.