Pokémon League

:This article is about Pokémon League Championship. For the locations in Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, or Paldea, see Pokémon League (Sinnoh), Pokémon League (Unova), Pokémon League (Kalos), Pokémon League (Alola), or Pokémon League (Paldea). For the system in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, see Pokémon League (TCG)
----
The Pokémon League (Japanese: ポケモンリーグ Pokémon League) is a group that organizes for registered Pokémon Trainers. It serves as an umbrella that oversees the regional Leagues.
There are ten known regional Leagues under the Pokémon League: the Indigo League in Kanto, the Orange League in the Orange Islands, the Johto League in Johto, the Hoenn League in Hoenn, the Sinnoh League in Sinnoh, the Unova League in Unova, the Kalos League in Kalos, the Alola League in Alola, the Galar League in Galar, and the Paldea League in Paldea.
In order to participate in regional competitions, Trainers must acquire a certain number of Gym Badges signifying the defeat of that region's Gym Leaders, or in the case of Alola, complete the island challenge.
==In the games==
In the core series Pokémon games, every region has a Pokémon League. The League challenge consists of collecting eight Gym Badges (or in Alola's case, beating the island challenge) and challenging the Elite Four, as well as the immediately after defeating the Elite Four members (or, in Galar, immediately after winning the Champion Cup tournament). Winners earn the title of Champion, and are enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
* Kanto and Johto have the Indigo League and the Johto League, respectively, both hosted at Indigo Plateau.
* Hoenn has the Hoenn League at Ever Grande City.
* Sinnoh has the Sinnoh League at the building on an unnamed island.
* Unova has the Unova League at the building in an unnamed area.
** Unova's Blueberry Academy has the , which is divided through the four biomes of the Terarium.
* Kalos has the Kalos League at the building in an unnamed area.
* Alola has the Alola League at the building on the summit of Mount Lanakila.
* Galar has the Galar League at Wyndon Stadium in Wyndon.
* Paldea has the Paldea League at the building northwest of Mesagoza.
With the exception of Paldea and Galar's Leagues, all League facilities are only accessible when challengers successfully traverse a path known as Victory Road.
In Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Paldea, and Hoenn, the place that holds the regional Pokémon League is simply called "Pokémon League", including the building itself. In Alola and Kanto, only the building itself is called "Pokémon League".
In Paldea, the title of Champion is a rank held by multiple Trainers, and there is no single Champion; rather, all Trainers who complete the league's challenge, known in the region as the Champion Assessment, are given the title of Champion. Geeta, the chairwoman of the league, is considered the Top Champion, the leader of Paldea's Champion-ranked Trainers.
==In animation==
===Pokémon the Series===
In , the Pokémon League challenge is divided into two parts: the Pokémon League Conference and the Champion League. In addition to organizing competitions, the Pokémon League acts as a regulatory body which licenses s and Gyms. In Ancient Family Matters!, Gym Leader Byron stated that he transferred from the Oreburgh Gym to the Canalave Gym after being contacted by the League organization because it was vacated by its previous Leader. 
As revealed in A Mudkip Mission, the organization is also responsible for the distribution of first partner Pokémon s to s like Old Man Swamp and the regional s. These first partner Pokémon are often raised at a low level to make it easier for a new Trainer to truly bond with their new partner. The League organization can be compared to the Pokémon Association in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
The Pokémon League advertises with posters and distributes at least some merchandise, including 's . League Conference s are broadcast on television to audiences wide.
The League Competition Committee is presided by Charles Goodshow and its functions are similar to those of the Pokémon Activities Committee, which organizes Pokémon Contests and Grand Festival tournaments for registered s.
====Pokémon League Conference====
The Pokémon League Conference is a between s who have collected at least eight Gym Badges from a specific region. Other ways of getting into the Indigo Plateau Conference besides collecting Badges have been shown, such as by passing the Pokémon League Admissions Exam, as seen in The Ultimate Test, or by graduating from Pokémon Tech, as seen in The School of Hard Knocks.
Rules vary from region to region, but generally, championship competitions are divided into three parts: qualifying rounds, preliminary rounds, and final rounds. Highly skilled Trainers will move on to compete with a smaller pool of competitors. The Trainer that defeats all other competitors is deemed the winner of the competition. Losing Trainers who participate in the competition will be ranked accordingly.
The League Conferences are known for their many traditions, including the opening celebration which evokes the flame of , alluding to the . Charles Goodshow serves as the president of the League Competition Committee.
====Champion League====
After winning a Pokémon League Conference, a Trainer may enter the Champion League of the relevant region, where the Elite Four and the await. Like in the , Trainers must defeat all members of the Elite Four for the right of challenging the Champion. Once the Elite Four is defeated, Champions are required to defend their title from challengers. If the battle against the challenger is won, Champions hold on to their current status. However, if the challenger succeeds, Champions must relinquish their title to the winning Trainer, who will then be deemed the new Pokémon Champion.
In Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, all members of the but Bertha have been shown challenging for her title. It is unknown if they had to defeat their Elite colleagues or if they requested a battle from the Champion straight away. So far, the only mentions of the Champion League have been in An Elite Meet and Greet!, A Trainer and Child Reunion!, Ash and Trip's Third Battle!, and Ash Versus the Champion!.
===Pokémon Generations===
In Pokémon Generations, the Pokémon League follows the same format as the corresponding , consisting of a series of sequential battles until the last challenge. In The Challenger, is seen challenging and defeating the Elite Four, and soon after being challenged by .
In The Redemption, is crowned the new of the Kalos region and he is seen with his Pokémon in the Hall of Fame.
===Pokémon Origins===
In Pokémon Origins, the Pokémon League challenge is exactly the same as seen in Pokémon Generations. Upon becoming a , is led by Professor Oak to the Hall of Fame, where all the Champions and their Pokémon over the years in the Kanto region are recorded.
===Pokémon: Twilight Wings===
In Pokémon: Twilight Wings, some aspects of the Galar League are presented, such as Rose and Oleana's work to broker battles. Unlike other anime, this version presents League battles with aspects more similar to real sporting events, where those responsible are in charge of analyzing every detail and are broadcast on a large scale across the region.
In The Gathering of Stars, it is revealed that after the events that led to Rose's downfall, Leon took responsibility for leading the League's events.
===Pokémon Evolutions===
In The Champion, the Galar League tournament finals are shown. During the event broadcast, the match narrator mentions that the event would be broadcast wide.
==In the manga==
===Pokémon Adventures===
====, , and s====
The Pokémon League consists of a regional tournament held every three years in each region. There are two ways of qualifying for the tournament—either by having eight Gym Badges or defeating a large number of other applicants without Gym Badges in preliminary rounds. The Pokémon League is sanctioned and run by the Pokémon Association. One rule that is incorporated into each featured tournament is that, should just one of a Trainer's Pokémon faint, then that Trainer automatically loses.
In addition, there is no Elite Four challenge. The Elite Four are simply powerful groups of four Trainers from each region who ally themselves with each other for power, and their activities are not sanctioned by the Pokémon League or related to the Pokémon Association—in fact, the activities of Kanto's Elite Four were villainous in nature.
========
The Hoenn League added new rules to the Pokémon League tournament. The person that wins the tournament will be allowed to fight the Elite Four, four previous winners of the tournament.
========
The Sinnoh Elite Four was enlisted by Pokémon Association to decode Charon's notebook in order to find out more about his aspiration.
========
The Johto Elite Four is made up of ex-criminals who are seeking emotional support from each other by training together.
========
The Unova League is similar to the Hoenn League. As explained by , participants can only compete when they have won eight Gym Badges. The Trainers that have earned eight Gym Badges are allowed to enter the Unova League tournament. The winner of this tournament is then allowed to fight the Elite Four, and then they will be allowed to fight the Champion.
==In other languages==
==Related articles==
* Pokémon Association
* Pokémon Inspection Agency
* Pokémon Activities Committee
Category:Pokémon League
de:Pokémon-Liga
es:Liga Pokémon
fr:Ligue Pokémon
it:Lega Pokémon
ja:ポケモンリーグ
zh:宝可梦联盟