The Pokémon Company has made some updates to its ongoing Play! Pokémon event circuit, removing Denmark, France, Italy, Malta, and Spain from its eligibility pool for certain in-person competitions.
As of now, none of those regions will be allowed to host casual events like League, Prerelease, and Non-CP Tournaments under the Play! Pokémon banner for any Pokémon title or circuit. This decision was made due to the “recent worsening of the global situation” surrounding COVID as the circuit works to slowly re-open, according to Serebii.
Because of this move, only Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Sweden, and Uruguay have been given the green light to host official events. TPC and the Play! Pokémon team will continue to monitor the global health situation and make changes to the circuit’s rulings and health and safety guidelines as deemed necessary.
Obviously, this decision will only impact in-person competitions and not online events hosted within the Play! Pokémon event circuit. It’s still unclear, however, just how many future changes like this will need to be made as the global health climate continues to fluctuate.
As an example, the Team Challenge Season Three Pokémon TCG event will begin on Jan. 15 entirely using Pokémon TCG Online. The 2021 edition of this event used a hybrid of in-person events and online competitions, though this one will only be run at a regional level online.
