During the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship (WCS) 2025, which took place in Paris, KONAMI announced that next year’s championship will be held in Tokyo, Japan.
In addition to the championship announcement, the company unveiled its latest partnership with football star Neymar Jr. for eFootball, as well as a limited-edition capsule collection in collaboration with Copenhagen-based fashion label FINE CHAOS.
The WCS, which took place from August 29th to August 31st at the Maison de la Mutualité in Paris, even saw the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron during the opening ceremony. The event marks a return to Europe since 2019, the last offline event before the COVID-19 pandemic brought a four-year hiatus. Last year, the season-end tournament was held in Seattle.
Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2025 Winners
The Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship (WCS) 2025 had a total of four categories: Yu‑Gi‑Oh! TCG, Yu‑Gi‑Oh! Duel Links (Speed Duel format), Yu‑Gi‑Oh! Duel Links (Rush Duel format) and Yu‑Gi‑Oh! Master Duel.
In the TCG tournament, French-American Duelist Julien Kehon triumphed over Tom Kleinegraeber from Germany to claim the title. Kehon took the crown in front of the home crowd after playing competitively only for a year, using a K9 Vanquish Soul deck.
In Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS, German player Philipp ‘Snyffus‘ Thomas won the SPEED DUEL trophy by narrowly defeating Wei ‘kama‘” Sen Wang, while Japanese player Kenya Nagatani swept Australian Michael ‘KiryuRyo‘ Boreham in the RUSH DUEL final.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! MASTER DUEL final, which featured a 3v3 showdown between Duelist Cup Winners Ragnarok and the North American team Chaiba Corp, saw the former win with a 5-4 score. The European team consisted of Italy’s Antonio ‘N3sh’ Papa, Sweden’s Herman ‘Mist’ Hansson, and Croatia’s Luka ‘Luka‘ Forjan,
Konami unveils Yu-Gi-Oh! and eFootball crossover featuring Neymar
Teased during the WCS 2025 livestream, KONAMI also announced a new collaboration between the card game and its other flagship title, eFootball.
The trailer featured Brazilian football star Neymar Jr. alongside five members of the French national football team, including the likes of goalkeeper Mike Peterson Maignan and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappé. Details about the collaboration, however, have yet to be unveiled.
