Pokémon League Conference

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Ash vs. Paul in the Lily of the Valley Conference

A Pokémon League Conference (Japanese: ポケモンリーグの大会 Pokémon League Tournament) is an animated series-exclusive championship tournament that is hosted seemingly annually in several regions in the Pokémon world.

Structure

The general structure of most League Conferences is similar: Pokémon Trainers must register for the region's Pokémon League, something which they can do at seemingly any Pokémon Center or with a Pokémon Professor, and then must win at least eight of the region's Gym Badges in order to be able to register for the competition. In addition to this method, the Indigo Plateau Conference is known to accept entrants who have passed the Pokémon League Admissions Exam or graduated from Pokémon Tech.

The tournament competition itself has an opening and closing ceremony. In some regions, there is a torch with the flame of Moltres or Ho-Oh that burns for the duration of the tournament, a reference to the real world's Olympic Games.

The day after the ceremonial torch has been lit, in some of the regional Leagues the qualifying rounds begin so as to weed out Trainers who have gotten the required eight Badges, but are not yet skilled enough to continue, and those who survive move on to the preliminary rounds. In other regional Leagues, instead, the preliminary rounds will begin right away, and will continue for several days until the top sixteen Trainers have been decided. At this point, there is a short break in the competition so that the Trainers and their Pokémon may rest, followed by the start of the final rounds.

In the final rounds, most, if not all, battles are usually Full Battles. All battles are conducted in the main stadium, and Trainers move up the tournament tree in single-elimination style. The winning contestant matchups are shuffled between rounds, as opposed to using traditional ladder seeding. The winning Trainer, upon defeat of their opponent, is awarded a trophy and earns the right to enter the Champion League to officially challenge the Elite Four and Champion of that region.

In Alola, due to the lack of Gyms in the region and the fact that its Pokémon League was only established recently, no specific conditions need to be met in order to enter its League Conference, and its winner was directly declared as the first-ever Champion of Alola. The newly-crowned Champion subsequently faced the League's founder, Professor Kukui (originally intended to appear as the Masked Royal), in an exhibition match.

Most Leagues use various types of fields during Pokémon battles. While the Vertress and Manalo Conferences uses only a standard dirt battlefield, every other Conference has held battles on various different battlefields, like icy, rocky, forested, grassy, and water to name a few. A standard rule for the Conferences with a myriad of battlefields, is that during the Full Battle stage in the tournament, once one side loses three Pokémon, there is a short break, during which a field change occurs.

In Galar, no League Conference is presented due to Pokémon Journeys: The Series focusing on the World Coronation Series. The Conference's place is instead taken by the Masters Eight Tournament, and the exact details of Galar's League structure are left vague, though Leon's introduction indicates them being similar to the games.

In Paldea, the structure of the Pokémon League is indicated to be similar to the games, as Nemona's introduction reveals that she has passed the Champion Assessment to become a Champion.

List of League Conferences

Region	Conference	Location	Starting episode	Final episode	Winner	Other notable contestants
Kanto	Indigo Plateau Conference	Indigo Plateau	All Fired Up!	Friends to the End	Unnamed	Ritchie (Top 8) Ash (Top 16) Gary (Top 32)
Johto	Silver Conference	Silver Town	A Claim to Flame!	Johto Photo Finish	Jon Dickson	Harrison (Top 4) Ash (Top 8) Gary (Top 16)
Hoenn	Ever Grande Conference	Ever Grande City	Saved by the Beldum	At the End of the Fray	Tyson	Ash (Top 8) Morrison (Top 16) Katie (Top 32)
Sinnoh	Lily of the Valley Conference	Lily of the Valley Island	An Old Family Blend!	The Semi-Final Frontier!	Tobias	Ash (Top 4) Paul (Top 8) Barry (Top 16)
Unova	Vertress Conference	Vertress City	Curtain Up, Unova League!	A Unova League Evolution!	Virgil	Cameron (Top 4) Ash (Top 8) Stephan (Top 16)
Kalos	Lumiose Conference	Lumiose City	A League of His Own!	Down to the Fiery Finish!	Alain	Ash (Runner-Up) Sawyer (Top 4) Tierno (Top 8)
Alola	Manalo Conference	Manalo Stadium	Battle Royal 151!	From Z to Shining Z!	Ash	Gladion (Runner-Up) Guzma (Top 4) Kiawe (Top 4)

In other languages

Language Title Finnish Pokémon-liigaturnaus German Pokémon Liga Konferenz Italian Conferenza della Lega Pokémon Norwegian Pokémon League Turneringen Brazilian Portuguese Conferência da Liga Pokémon Spanish Latin America Conferencia de la liga Pokémon Spain Congreso de la liga Pokémon Swedish Pokémonligatävlingen

See also

• Pokémon League episodes
• League Conference participants
• Masters Eight Tournament

Animated series-exclusive Pokémon competitions

Multiregional Grand Festival • Pokémon Baccer World Cup • Pokémon League Conference • PokéRinger • Wallace Cup World Coronation Series (Masters Eight Tournament) Kanto Aura Guardian Festival • Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest • Big P Pokémon Race • Indigo Plateau Conference Kanto Grand Festival • Magikarp High Jump Competition • P1 Grand Prix • Pokémon Grand Eating Contest • Pokémon Orienteering Queen of the Princess Festival Johto Extreme Pokémon Race • Fire and Rescue Grand Prix • Grass Tournament • Mareep Festival • Pokémon Balloon Race Pokémon Beauty Contest • Rock and Tumble One-on-One Tauros Competition • Running of the Tauros Seaking Catching Competition • Silver Conference • Sumo Conference • Sunflora Festival • Tour de Alto Mare • Whirl Cup Hoenn Battle Frontier Flute Cup • Crossgate PokéRinger • Ever Grande Conference • Friendship Festival • Hoenn Grand Festival Marine Athletic Race • Trick House Contest Sinnoh Croagunk Festival • Festival Battle Challenge • Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition • Hearthome Collection Lily of the Valley Conference • Pokémon Dress-Up Contest • Pokémon Iceberg Race • Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament Pokémon Summer Academy • Pokémon Triathlon • Sinnoh Grand Festival • Sinnoh Pokémon Hustle • Squallville PokéRinger Unova Club Battle • Clubsplosion • Eindoak Harvest Festival • Pokémon Performance Competition • Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup Pokéstar Studios Film Competition • Subway Bosses' Stamp Rally • Vertress Conference • Wishing Bell Festival Decolore Marine Cup Tournament • Pokémon Sumo Tournament • Scalchop King Competition Kalos Lumiose Conference • Poké Puff Contest • Pokémon Showcase • Pokémon Sky Relay • Pokémon Summer Camp Alola Alola Bread Festival • Charjabug race • Manalo Conference‎‎ • Pokémon Catch Adventure Race • Pokémon Pancake Race Pokémon Ping-Pong tournament • Pokémon Sled Jump Games • Vikavolt race Galar All-Alcremie Decoration Challenge Paldea Elite Four Tag Battle Unknown Pigton Town Multi Battle Tournament • Pokémon Catch Race

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.