The Pokémon World Championships and Pokémon XP fan convention are both happening in San Francisco this weekend, and competitive players are gathering at the event for the biggest Pokémon tournament of the year. However, a few notable players, including a previous world champion, will not be playing after being banned for cutting the line at the merch booth.
Players Luca Ceribelli, Ruben Gianzini, and Luca Lussignoli had their event passes confiscated, though Ceribelli claims the group was told their passes would be reprinted so they would be able to actually enter Worlds and compete in the days ahead. In a lengthy statement, Ceribelli says that he and Lussignoli allowed Gianzini to join them in the merch line, specifically citing Gianzini’s “disability” that made him “severely uncomfortable in crowded spaces.”
He says security then took their passes to ensure they wouldn’t be allowed in the Pokémon Center store, though the group was reassured “several times” that they could be reprinted so the group could still play at Worlds. Now, he says they’ve been told that they can’t print out their passes again, meaning they can’t enter the event at all.
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.
Upon confronting the on-site stuff, we were told that nothing could have been done to get our passes back, ultimately resulting in us being unable to access the venue.
This situation looks so absurd that it clearly looks like I am not telling the whole story, but I hope you believe me when I say that this is all there is.
This year has been extremely hard for me emotionally, and due to me being unable to attend tournaments for 8 months I was looking forward to experience Worlds once again, so having it be stripped from me from such an unjust situation is soul crushing to say the least.
Congratulations to Luca Ceribelli, your #PokemonVGC Masters Division World Champion! 🏆 #PokemonWorlds pic.twitter.com/Gvhcrt7GEm
— Play! Pokémon @ Worlds (@playpokemon) August 19, 2024
Ceribelli won the World Championships back in 2024, so his being banned from the event he once won is attracting the attention of people throughout the Pokémon community.
Being “unable” to reprint an access-pass for one of your former WORLD CHAMPIONS is such a bad look for Pokemon.
They really ought to do something about this. https://t.co/FDK8nWpzwK
— Liam (@AceTrainerLiam) August 28, 2026
Pokémon acaba de BANEAR al CAMPEÓN del MUNDO de 2024, Luca Ceribelli de la competición porque otro italiano se ha saltado la cola del POKÉMON CENTER para entrar con ellos…
ESTAMOS LOCOS?!
— Sekiam (@SekiamPKM) August 28, 2026
The US shouldn’t host worlds for a while after this
— Farigiraf’s Strongest Soldier (@CbuttyVGC) August 28, 2026
We’ve reached out to The Pokémon Center about the situation and will update the story if we hear back.