VGC 2026 Latin America International Championships Top Teams and Results

The 2026 Pokémon Latin America International Championships were won by 2025 Japan National Champion Yuma Kinugawa. The event ran from 21-23 November 2025, and featured a total of 518 trainers battling for an invite to the 2026 Pokémon World Championships.

This was the largest-scale tournament to use the Regulation Set H, banning the use of all Paradox, Legendary, and Restricted Special Pokémon. The 2026 Championship Series concludes with the 2026 World Championships, scheduled to take place in San Francisco, California, from 28-30 August 2026, with the Video Game Championships (VGC) division held in the upcoming Pokémon Champions title.

The following list shows the Top 32 players; the teams they used, which you can click or tap to see more information, such as each Pokémon's moves or ability; and any rewards earned. This includes prize money in USD and invites to the 2026 World Championships. Any team or rental code shown below can be used in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's in-person events while Regulation Set H is running from 1 September to 30 November 2025.

Standings​

Top Cut​

#​	Rewards​	Trainer​	Pokémon​
1st​	$15,000 Worlds Invite​	Yuma Kinugawa​	​
2nd​	$10,000 Worlds Invite​	Juan Salerno​	​
Top 4​	$7,000 Worlds Invite​	Yuya Tada​	​
		Théotime Massaut​	​
Top 8​	$5,000​	Oliver Eskolin​	​
		Justin Tang​	​
		Hanns Pizarro​	​
		Gabriel Agati​	​
Top 16​	$3,000​	William Brown​	​
		Kylan Van Severen​	​
		Javier Señorena​	​

Top 32​

Top 16 (cont.)​	$3,000​	Christian Rangel​	​
		Yoav Reuven​	​
		Nicholas Kan​	​
		Marco Hemantha Kaludura Silva​	​
		Giovanni Cischke​	​
Top 32​	$2,000​	Louis Markl​	​
		Chongjun Peng​	​
		Matteo Ferrari​	​
		Francesco Pio Pero​	​
		Gabriel Rigo​	​
		Gaku Sato​	​
		Dakota Kelly​	​
		Heitor Basilio Tonini​	​
		Pedro Henrique Samayoa Rubini Cini​	​
		Jerry Woods III​	​
		Luca Ceribelli​	​
		Eduardo Cunha​	​
		Pedro Cardoso​	​
		Alexander Canseco​	​
		Giulio Tarlao​	​
		Ali Dakik​	​

Finals​

Masters Division—Juan Salerno vs Yuma Kinugawa​

The finals of the 2026 Latin America International Championships features 2x Regional Champion and 2019 Senior Oceania International Champion Juan Salerno taking on 2025 Japan National Champion and 2025 North America International Quarterfinalist Yuma Kinugawa. The results of the battle can be found below.

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Juan Salerno's team relies on Gholdengo, Sneasler, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna as the main attackers. The former two both threaten to boost their damage with Nasty Plot and Swords Dance respectively, as Ursaluna can immediately deal huge damage thanks to its powerful attacks and support from its team. Rillaboom, Incineroar, and Dragonite are all able to deal huge damage as well, but also provide a huge amount of utility to the team; Rillaboom sets up the Grassy Terrain with its ability Grassy Surge, healing its teammates and activating Sneasler's Grassy Seed held item, which boosts its Defense stat by one stage before activating its Unburden ability to double its Speed. Both Rillaboom and Incineroar also get access to Fake Out, a priority move that flinches the target, forcing them to skip their turn, although this move only works on the first turn the user is sent out into battle. Incineroar's ability Intimidate also provides a great deal of utility, lowering the Attack stats of both opposing Pokémon every time it is switched in. It also uses Parting Shot to lower the target's Attack and Special Attack stats before switching out (allowing Incineroar to switch back in and reuse Intimidate and Fake Out), and Knock Off to deal a good amount of damage while removing the target's held item. Finally, Dragonite gets access to Tailwind to support its team by doubling their Speed stats for five turns.

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Yuma Kinugawa's team similarly relies on Bloodmoon Ursaluna for damage, but boosts its offensive potential even further with the Life Orb held item and option for a Normal-type Terastallization to boost the damage of Blood Moon and Hyper Voice. With the Choice Specs, Hisuian Typhlosion is the team's second main attacker, threatening huge damage in the harsh sunlight with powerful Fire-type attacks in Eruption, Heat Wave, and Overheat. Whimsicott supports the team by setting up the aforementioned harsh sunlight for Typhlosion, while also supporting the rest of the team with Tailwind and Encore. Farigiraf similarly has an option for speed control with Trick Room, forcing the faster Pokémon in the battle to move last and the slower Pokémon to move first, which is great for the slower Pokémon on the team, or if their opponent sets up their own Tailwind. Flamigo can deal huge damage with Close Combat, being able to hit Ghost-type Pokémon thanks to its ability Scrappy, which also blocks the effects of Intimidate. Finally, Incineroar appears on the team, making use of its most common strengths: Intimidate, Fake Out, Knock Off, and Parting Shot.

Top Pokémon​

#​	Pokémon​		Phase 1​	Phase 2​	Top Cut​	Peak​
#1​		Incineroar​	54.5%​	▲ 58.1%​	▲ 72.7%​	1st​
#2​		Gholdengo​	42.2%​	▼ 41.9%​	▼ 27.3%​	2nd​
#3​		Rillaboom​	41.4%​	▼ 40.5%​	▼ 27.3%​	2nd​
#4​		Ursaluna (Bloodmoon)​	36.8%​	▲ 44.6%​	▲ 45.5%​	1st​
#5​		Dragonite​	33.5%​	▲ 39.2%​	▲ 54.5%​	2nd​
#6​		Sneasler​	23.5%​	▲ 28.4%​	▼ 9.1%​	2nd​
#7​		Annihilape​	20.8%​	▼ 20.3%​	▼ 9.1%​	Top 8​
#8​		Volcarona​	19.6%​	▲ 24.3%​	▲ 36.4%​	Top 4​
#9​		Basculegion (Male)​	18.9%​	▲ 21.6%​	▲ 27.3%​	Top 4​
#10​		Archaludon​	18.1%​	▲ 24.3%​	▲ 36.4%​	Top 4​
#11​		Ursaluna​	18.1%​	▼ <14.9%​	9.1%​	Top Cut​
#12​		Ninetales (Alolan)​	16.5%​	▲ 18.9%​	▼ 18.2%​	Top 4​
#13​		Pelipper​	<16.5%​	14.9%​	▲ 18.2%​	Top 4​

Streamed Battles​

Day 1​

Swiss Round 1​
Fábio Lima​	5-3​	1 - 2​	11-3​	Justin Tang​
​			​

Swiss Round 2​
Víctor Medina​	5-3​	1 - 2​	14-2​	Yuma Kinugawa​
​			​

Swiss Round 3​
Yoav Reuven​	9-3​	2 - 0​	9-3​	Marco Silva​
​			​

Swiss Round 4​
Dorian Quiñonez​	5-3​	0 - 2​	12-3​	Théotime Massaut​
​			​

Swiss Round 5​
Joshua Lorcy​	8-4​	2 - 1​	9-3​	Alexander Canseco​
​			​

Swiss Round 6​
Giulio Tarlao​	8-4​	0 - 2​	13-3​	Juan Salerno​
​			​

Swiss Round 7​
Arath Vera​	8-4​	1 - 2​	8-4​	Ali Dakik​
​			​

Swiss Round 8​
Federico Camporesi​	5-3​	1 - 2​	8-4​	Eric Rios​
​			​

Day 2​

Swiss Round 9​
Gabriel Agati​	11-3​	2 - 0​	12-3​	Théotime Massaut​
​			​

Swiss Round 10​
Oliver Eskolin​	12-2​	2 - 1​	9-3​	Luca Ceribelli​
​			​

Swiss Round 11​
Justin Tang​	11-3​	2 - 1​	12-3​	Yuya Tada​
​			​

Swiss Round 12​
Gabriel Rigo​	9-3​	0 - 2​	10-3​	Kylan Van Severen​
​			​

Top 8A​
Gabriel Agati​	11-3​	1 - 2​	13-3​	Juan Salerno​
​			​

Top 8B​
Oliver Eskolin​	12-2​	0 - 2​	12-3​	Théotime Massaut​
​			​

Top 8C​
Justin Tang​	11-3​	0 - 2​	14-2​	Yuma Kinugawa​
​			​

Top 8D​
Hanns Pizarro​	11-3​	1 - 2​	12-3​	Yuya Tada​
​			​

Top 4A​
Juan Salerno​	13-3​	2 - 0​	12-3​	Théotime Massaut​
​			​

Top 4B​
Yuya Tada​	12-3​	0 - 2​	14-2​	Yuma Kinugawa​
​			​

Finals​

Masters Division​
Juan Salerno​	13-3​	0 - 2​	14-2​	Yuma Kinugawa​
​			​

Senior Division​
Matthew Henry​	2 - 1​	Charlie Kim​

Junior Division​
Magnus Kjær Andreasen​	2 - 1​	Izhaq Hoggui​