Prologue/Overview
of the FIPO World Cup
FIPO
World Cup
The Pokémon
World Cup is an international Pokémon competition held every 4 years by the
International Pokémon Federation (Fédération Internationale de Pokémon, or FIPO), based in Geneva,
Switzerland. First competed in 1930, the Pokémon World Cup is equal in
popularity to the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. The FIP World Cup is
typically held before or after the FIFA World Cup to avoid clashing with the
other tournament. The tournament is competed by 32 countries, much like the
FIFA World Cup. And just like FIFA, the nations of the world are divided into 6
confederations, which are listed as so:
APC—Asian
Pokémon Confederation; includes all of
CAP--Confédération Africaine de
Pokémon;
CONCACAP—Confederation
of North, Central American and
CONMEPOK—Confederación Sudamericana de
Pokémon,
OPC—
UEPA—Union of
European Pokémon Associations
The
competition has been held 18 times, having only been interrupted by World War
II. The competition is a team competition, unlike its sister competition, the
less prestigious Individual World Cup. Only 5 teams have ever won the
competition. The most successful team in the FIPO World Cup is
In order to
qualify, a team must compete in a 4-year tournament called World Cup
Qualifying, much like the FIFA World Cup. These are held by the respective
confederations. Because of the close relationship between FIPO and FIFA, FIPO
borrowed the format of the tournament, as did the respective confederations.
Rules/Format
The rules are
played according to official FIP rules. The competition field is on a field
about half the size of an association football pitch (FIP's
relationship with FIFA is part of this reason). The trainers competing may hold
no more than 6 Pokémon at a time, but cannot hold 3 or less. Since it is a team
competition, there are rules regarding how long a match may go. Much like
volleyball, the match is split into a best-of-five series of battles between
individual trainers. Whichever team wins 3 battles first wins the match.
The battles
themselves are regulated to strict time limits. Typically, they are 20 minutes
in length for the individual trainer battles, or sets. The trainer battles also
have rules. The trainer with the least amount of Pokémon knocked out by the end
of 20 minutes wins. However, the trainer's Pokémon can also knock out all of
the opponent's Pokémon in less than 20 minutes. An opponent's Pokémon is
considered knocked out if it is either physically knocked out or if it is
forced out of the playing field. If the trainers have an equal number of
Pokémon knocked out at the end of 20 minutes, then they are given overtime to decide
the winner.
Points are
awarded for the number of Pokémon knocked out and for a win in the Group stages
and qualifying. A win is a guaranteed 3 points and if a trainer knocks out a
number of an opponent's Pokémon they will earn 1 point. Points do not apply to
the knock-out stages.
A trainer may
also change up their Pokémon party between team matches. Because of recent
technological advances allowing Pokémon to be transported over long distances
in an instant, FIPO rules have changed. However, trainers must keep 2 constant
party members. Walking Pokémon are also allowed.
The tournament
format also follows the World Cup. The tournament in its current form is played
by 32 nations. The first round, or Group Stage, is a round-robin format played
between 8 groups of 4 teams to determine who will advance to the knock-out
stage. Each team plays its respective group stage team once, which adds up to 3
matches per team. The top two teams in each group advance to the knock-out
stage. From then on it is a single-elimination tournament. Each team battles
each other until the final. Whoever wins the final is the champion.
In terms of
uniforms, they are not required but all trainers must wear their country's
colors. As such, some teams wear the colors of their national association
football team or Olympic committee.
Trainer
Eligibility
A World Cup
team must have 5 trainers on its roster. No more, no less. However, a reserve
team can come if one trainer cannot compete. How a trainer makes the team is
another story. Qualification for the team depends on the country. Some teams
select their trainers. Others, like the
For example,
the
The tournament
is mixed gender, having been so since 1978 and typically a team will have one
or more female trainers. As such, it is not uncommon for teams that have
trainers qualify via tournament to have all-female teams.
The age
requirement is 15 or older in order to compete. The typical age range for a
team is 17-30. Specialty trainers (trainers who prefer to use a single type or
element) are allowed, but these usually do not make up the entire team and it
is almost non-existent for these teams to win. If a country has a Gym system,
then Gym leaders are allowed to compete as well. The all-female West German
team that won in 1990 was made up of 4 Gym leaders and one non-gym leader.
FIP World
Cup Qualification
The qualification
process depends on each confederation. But there are rules that are constant
with FIPO. As stated previously, a team must have 5 trainers, all of whom must
use a maximum of 6 Pokémon, and a trainer is either selected to or qualifies
for the World Cup team. The qualification tournament varies per confederation,
usually mirroring the FIFA World Cup qualification tournaments for the
association football confederations. The host, however, automatically qualifies
for the tournament, which adds up to 31 qualification spots. For the 2010
edition, the number of entrants per confederation was divided like this:
APC: 4 to 5
CAP: 5
CONCACAP: 3 to
4*
CONMEPOK: 4 to
5*
OPC: 0 to 1
UEPA: 13
*CONCACAP and
CONMEPOK have a playoff between the 4th and 5th place teams of their respective
confederations.
Once all 32
finalists have qualified, the draw takes place in the host country. The teams
are divided into 4 pots of 8 teams. The first pot is the host and the top 7
qualifiers in terms of rank. Pot 2 is
Although it
was not addressed in the eligibility section, there are problems regarding
Trainers qualifying via tournament. The problem is that on occasion, the team
that goes to the World Cup has none of the trainers that competed in the
qualification tournament. Some countries, however, have remedied this by
holding their qualification tournament just after the World Cup so the trainers
that qualified for the team will be the team that qualifies for the World Cup
finals. Others forgo the national qualification tournaments altogether and
simply select their team, like
Qualification
Tournaments per region
In terms of
actual qualification, each confederation holds different tournaments. CAP's qualification is a three-round tournament.
Lower-ranking teams compete in the first round. In the second round, 45
qualifiers (plus the three that advanced out of the first round, bringing the
total to 48) compete in 12 groups of 4 for a spot in the 3rd round. The top two
teams in each group (save for the occasional group where only 1 advances)
advance to the 3rd and final round of qualifying. There they compete in five
groups of four. The winners of each group advance to the FIPO World Cup.
In
In
The OPC
tournament is somewhat smaller. The tournament also doubles as the OPC Cup of
nations. The first round is a group stage involving two groups of 5 who play
for 4 spots to advance to the knock-out stage. The winner of this competition
advances to the second round of qualification. The first round doubled as the
South Pacific Games Pokémon tournament. The second round, the OPC Nation Cup,
is a four-team competition. The winner of the OPC Nation Cup advances to the
APC-OPC playoff.
The CONMEPOK
qualification tournament is much smaller, being contested between only 10
teams. The competition is a one-round round-robin tournament. The top 4 teams
automatically qualify for the World Cup final, while the fifth team competes in
the CONCACAP-CONMEPOK playoff to determine the final spot for each
confederation.
2010
Qualified teams
For the 2010
edition, held in France, 31 teams qualified; 14 from Europe—France, as the
hosts, qualified automatically; 4 from North and Central America; 4 from South
America; 4 from Asia; 1 from Oceania and 5 from Africa.
The following
teams qualified:
APC (4)
*
*
*
*
CAP (5)
*
*
*
*
*
CONCACAP (4)
*
*
*
*
CONMEPOK (4)
*
*
*
*
OPC (1)
*
UEPA (14)
*
*
*
* France (Hosts)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Group Stage
Following
qualifications, the draw was held in
Group A
* France
(hosts)
*
*
*
Group B
*
*
*
*
Group C
*
*
*
*
Group D
*
*
*
*
Group E
* Japan
*
*
*
Group F
*
*
*
*
Group G
*
*
*
*
Group H
*
*
*
*
(New article)
The United
States national Pokémon team; nicknamed the Yanks, Stars and Stripes and Red
White And Blue, are the official Pokémon team of the United States. Although
the team has never won a FIP World Cup, they have won the CONCACAP Cup 4 times,
second behind traditional North American powers
Despite having
a large talent pool to draw from, the
To qualify for
the World Cup team, a trainer must win a regional qualifying tournament of 32
other trainers. A trainer may enter another region's tournament as an
out-of-region entry, but these are restricted to 2 per regional tournament and
only one is allowed on the World Cup team. The regions are divided like this:
* Northeast
* Southeast
*
* Southwest
* West
The
* David Goldman of
* Darlyshia DuBois
of
* Ash Ketchum of Pallet,
* Jimmy McAndrew of
* Misty Waterflower of Cerulean,
With this
lineup, the team is seen as a threat to make it to at least the quarterfinals
in the FIPO World Cup. The team will face rivals
Notes
[1] Better
known as
[2] Better known as
The reason all of this resembles the FIFA World Cup is yes, it is influenced
by the FIFA World Cup. Don't criticize me, that's just the way I wanted to do
it.