The 2026 Pokémon World Championships and Pokémon XP fan convention took place this weekend in San Francisco, where several top players were banned for allegedly cutting the merch store line [1, 2, 3].
Among those banned were 2024 World Champion Luca Ceribelli, Ruben Gianzini, and Luca Lussignoli. Security confiscated their event passes to prevent them from entering the Pokémon Center store, initially assuring the players their passes would be reprinted to allow competition access [1, 2, 3].
Ceribelli and Lussignoli allowed Gianzini, who has a disability that causes severe discomfort in crowded spaces, to join their merch line to accommodate him [1, 2, 3]. Despite this, the players were later informed their passes could not be reprinted, effectively barring them from entering the event and competing [1, 2, 3].
Ceribelli condemned the punishment as "extremely unjust" and disproportionate to what he described as a minor offense. He said, "I believe this to be extremely unjust, as it clearly does not reflect the misdeed in the slightest, but on top of that we were misled, whether intentionally or not, into not challenging such an absurd decision" [1]. He also expressed deep emotional distress, explaining in a Chinese statement that he had been unable to attend tournaments for eight months and was eagerly anticipating the Worlds before his ban. He wrote, "今年我的情绪状态一直很差，而且我已经有8个月没能参加任何赛事了，本来满心期待能重回世锦赛的赛场。结果因为这么一桩不公的事，参赛资格就被剥夺了，这对我的打击简直难以言喻" [2]. Another statement underlined his heartbreak at losing the chance to compete [3].
The incident has drawn significant criticism from the Pokémon community about the handling of the ban [1, 3]. As of now, no official response from Pokémon regarding the bans has been reported [3].
