World Championship Qualifiers

World Championship Qualifiers came up in 2010 as an official name for all National Tournaments and Continental Championships held in many countries around the world. National Tournaments were held in selected countries by Konami, then occurred a Continental Championship for each continent or region which reserved seats for the World Championship. While the National Tournaments started out in 2003, the first Continental Championship was the European one, which took place in Bochum, Germany on July 2006. 2009 was the year of the Central and South America Championships as well as the Oceania's. Last but not least US and Canada National were fused into the North American Championship. Even if the name changed, the pattern is the same, as after the Nationals occur Continentals which reserve a limited number of seats for the World Championship: 6 from North-American WCQ, 5 from Japan, 4 from Europe, 2 from Oceania and 1 from Central America and South America. Also Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan haven't a Continental WCQ, but they can access World Championship through their Nationals.

National Champions

2003 National Champions

• The 2003 Canadian National Champion is Adam McNeely.
• The 2003 German National Champion is Nico Sikorsky.
• The 2003 Italian National Champion is Luca Casadei.

2004 National Champions

• The 2004 American Champion is Theerasak Poonsombat.
• The 2004 Australian National Champion is Pascal Huet.
• The 2004 Brazilian National Champion is Robinson Costa.
• The 2004 Canadian National Champion is Joseph Leung. (Chaos).
• The 2004 Chilean National Champion is Felipe Luque.
• The 2004 Dutch National Champion is Rajin Harpal.
• The 2004 French National Champion is Didier Maille.
• The 2004 German National Champion is Chi-Vinh Le.
• The 2004 Greek National Champion is Kostas Giankolo.
• The 2004 Hong Kong National Champion is Chan Wan Hang.
• The 2004 Irish National Champion is Mark Kenny.
• The 2004 Italian National Champion is Dario Longo.
• The 2004 Slovenian National Champion is Marko Thuma.
• The 2004 Spanish National Champion is Rodrigo Togores.
• The 2004 Swedish National Champion is Johan Nilsson
• The 2004 United Kingdom National Champion is Ryan Pugh.

2005 National Champions

• The 2005 American National Champion is Max Suffridge.
• The 2005 Argentinian National champion is Gaston Mazzuquini. (Last Turn)
• The 2005 Australian National Champion is Stewart Brine.
• The 2005 Belgian National Champion is Guy Israel.
• The 2005 Brazilian National Champion is André Marchetto. (Chaos)
• The 2005 Canadian National Champion is Dexter Dalit. (Warrior Toolbox).
• The 2005 Chilean National Champion is Gonzalo Ercole.
• The 2005 Croatian National Champion is Joso Zrilić.
• The 2005 Dominican Republic National Champion is Teodoro Lai.
• The 2005 Dutch National Champion is Guan Her Ng.
• The 2005 Ecuadorian National Champion is Francois Dau Herrera.
• The 2005 Estonian National Champion is Valter Liblik. (Chaos/Warrior Toolbox)
• The 2005 French National Champion is Pierre Pradelles.
• The 2005 German National Champion is David Kretschmer.
• The 2005 Greek National Champion is Giannis Papastaurou.
• The 2005 Hungarian National Champion is Szili Atilla.
• The 2005 Irish National Champion is James Kinsella.
• The 2005 Israeli National Champion is Ido Marcus.
• The 2005 Italian National Champion is Namer Merli.
• The 2005 Lithuanian National Champion is Antanas Poluninas.
• The 2005 Mexican National Champion is Jorge Fabian Piña Lizarraga. (Empty Jar)
• The 2005 New Zealand National Champion is Cindie Uddstrom.
• The 2005 Polish National Champion is Paweł Marcinkowski.
• The 2005 Slovenian National Champion is Marko Thuma.
• The 2005 Swedish National Champion is Christopher Westholm
• The 2005 Swiss National Champion is Luis da Silva.
• The 2005 United Kingdom National Champion is Adam Kruszynski.

2006 National Champions

• The 2006 American National Champion is Austin Kulman.
• The 2006 Australian National Champion is Marcus Rokman.
• The 2006 Austrian National Champion is Phillip Bohar.
• The 2006 Belgian National Champion is Wim Eliano.
• The 2006 Brazilian National Champion is Guilherme Jardim.
• The 2006 Canadian National Champion is Calvin Tsang. (Cyber-Stein).
• The 2006 Chilean National Champion is Javier Segovia.
• The 2006 Costa Rican National Champion is Sebastián Astuas.
• The 2006 Croatian National Champion is Karlo Mrvić.
• The 2006 Dutch National Champion is Baran Güntekin.
• The 2006 Ecuadorian National Champion is Andres Murillo.
• The 2006 Estonian National Champion is Henri Viiard.
• The 2006 French National Champion is Jeremy Dezani
• The 2006 German National Champion is Michel Grüner.
• The 2006 Greek National Champion is Giorgos Volakis.
• The 2006 Irish National Champion is Darren Walsh.
• The 2006 Israeli National Champion is Roi Dan.
• The 2006 Italian National Champion is Dario Longo. (L&D)
• The 2006 New Zealand National Champion is Sam Bell.
• The 2006 Polish National Champion is Jarek Pajor.
• The 2006 Spanish National Champion is Anthony Apaestegui.
• The 2006 Serbian National Champion is Strahinja Kljaic
• The 2006 Swedish National Champion is Robin Ruus
• The 2006 Swiss National Champion is Remo Lehmann.
• The 2006 United Kingdom National Champion is Wayne Pinkney.

2007 National Champions

• The 2007 American National Champion is Adam Corn.
• The 2007 Australian National Champion is Egon Cardenas.
• The 2007 Austrian National Champion is Hanspeter Rokita.
• The 2007 Belgian National Champion is Jonas Couvreur.
• The 2007 Brazilian National Champion is André Marchetto. (DDT)
• The 2007 Bulgarian National Champion is Georgi Georgiev.
• The 2007 Canadian National Champion is Dexter Dalit. (Gadget).
• The 2007 Chilean National Champion is Gonzalo Ercole.
• The 2007 Costa Rican National Champion is Nelson Zúñiga.
• The 2007 Croatian National Champion is Marko Božac.
• The 2007 Dutch National Champion is Michael Smits.
• The 2007 Ecuadorian National Champion is Johnny Oña.
• The 2007 English National Champion is Andrew Lam.
• The 2007 Estonian National Champion is Sten-Robert Pullerits.
• The 2007 Finnish National Champion is Alexander Trivedi.
• The 2007 French National Champion is Pierre Pradelles.
• The 2007 German National Champion is Vittorio Wiktor.
• The 2007 Greek National Champion is Nasos Bouboulis.
• The 2007 Hong Kong National Champion is Yuen Ka Wa.
• The 2007 Hungarian National Champion is Kis Gábor.
• The 2007 Irish National Champion is Brian Dunne.
• The 2007 Italian National Champion is Marco Mazzuoccolo.
• The 2007 Jamaican National Champion is Neufville Brown.
• The 2007 Korean National Champion is Dong-Hub Lee.
• The 2007 Lithuanian National Champion is Kazimieras Kanarskas.
• The 2007 Malaysian National Champion is Lee Ban Siong.
• The 2007 Maltese National Champion is Matthew Cossai.
• The 2007 New Zealand National Champion is Daniel Schofield.
• The 2007 Polish National Champion is Paweł Brzostowski.
• The 2007 Portuguese National Champion is Helio Babo.
• The 2007 Singaporean National Champion is Lim Poo Choon.
• The 2007 Spanish National Champion is Anthony Apaestegui.
• The 2007 Swedish National Champion is Sebastian Öberg.
• The 2007 Swiss National Champion is Roman Patané.
• The 2007 Taiwanese National Champion is Huang Shin-En.

2008 National Champions

• The 2008 American National Champion is Chris Bowling.
• The 2008 Australian National Champion is Richard Hahn.
• The 2008 Austrian National Champion is Tolga Sikkoç.
• The 2008 Belgian National Champion is Sébastien Gonzalez.
• The 2008 Brazilian National Champion is Mario Vinnicius. (DDT)
• The 2008 Bulgarian National Champion is Ivan Todorov.
• The 2008 Canadian National Champion is Lazaro Bellido. (Gladiator Beast).
• The 2008 Chilean National Champion is Franco Cuneo.
• The 2008 Croatian National Champion is Gordan Bareza.
• The 2008 Costa Rican National Champion is Rodrigo Jiménez.
• The 2008 Danish National Champion is Soheil Afriday.
• The 2008 Dutch National Champion is Mitch Wanders.
• The 2008 Ecuadorian National Champion is Gabriel Hernandez.
• The 2008 Estonian National Champion is Kaspar Kelder.
• The 2008 Finnish National Champion is Jaakko Penttinen.
• The 2008 French National Champion is Vincent Ralambomiadana.
• The 2008 German National Champion is Florian Chitic.
• The 2008 Greek National Champion is Pashos Akis.
• The 2008 Hong Kong National Champion is Li Kit Chun.
• The 2008 Hungarian National Champion is Kis Gábor.
• The 2008 Irish National Champion is Brian Donnelly.
• The 2008 Israeli National Champion is Ido Marcus.
• The 2008 Italian National Champion is Emanuele Giusti. (Dark Armed Dragon)
• The 2008 Jamaican National Champion is Romeo Wint.
• The 2008 Korean National Champion is Jung-Ho Ahn.
• The 2008 Latvian National Champion is Kirils Obuks.
• The 2008 Lithuanian National Champion is Karolis Minkevičius. (Dark Armed Dragon)
• The 2008 Malaysian National Champion is Eddy Fang Chou Yong.
• The 2008 Maltese National Champion is Ryan Farrugia.
• The 2008 Mexican National Champion is Alejandro "Rigo" Vivaldo Reyes Suárez.
• The 2008 New Zealand National Champion is Chris Gehring.
• The 2008 Polish National Champion is Lukasz Strukowski.
• The 2008 Portuguese National Champion is António Santos.
• The 2008 Singaporean National Champion is Michael Santoso.
• The 2008 Slovenian National Champion is Mitja Kach.
• The 2008 Spanish National Champion is Borja Atienza.
• The 2008 Swedish National Champion is Johan Bisenius.
• The 2008 Swiss National Champion is Marco Ahr.
• The 2008 Taiwanese National Champion is Wei-Hao She.
• The 2008 United Kingdom National Champion is Han-Wei Tang.

2009 National Champions

• The 2009 American National Champion is Kris Ferber.
• The 2009 Australian National Champion is Alexander Antonios.
• The 2009 Austrian National Champion is Claudio Kirchmair.
• The 2009 Belgian National Champion is Jérôme Legrand.
• The 2009 Brazilian National Champion is Patric Gallo.
• The 2009 Bulgarian National Champion is Atanas Dimitrov.
• The 2009 Canadian National Champion is Charles Easton. (Synchro Cat)
• The 2009 Chilean National Champion is Gonzalo Ercole.
• The 2009 Costa Rican National Champion is Bismark Perez.
• The 2009 Croatian National Champion is Luka Šterbić.
• The 2009 Czech National Champion is Michal Mlynáy.
• The 2009 Danish National Champion is Casper Frederiksen.
• The 2009 Dutch National Champion is Sven Schuurhuis.
• The 2009 Ecuadorian National Champion is Jose Ubilla.
• The 2009 Estonian National Champion is Mihkel Kukk.
• The 2009 Finnish National Champion is Alexander Trivedi.
• The 2009 French National Champion is Yohan Dudognon.
• The 2009 German National Champion is Roland Gress.
• The 2009 Hungarian National Champion is Tamas Nemeth.
• The 2009 Irish National Champion is Robert Stefanuik.
• The 2009 Israeli National Champion is Ido Marcus.
• The 2009 Italian National Champion is Andrea D'Angelo.
• The 2009 Korean National Champion is Hong-Kyu Lee.
• The 2009 Latvian National Champion is Igors Kogans.
• The 2009 Lithuanian National Champion is Kazimieras Kanarskas.
• The 2009 Maltese National Champion is Clint Caruana.
• The 2009 Mexican National Champion is Leija Hernandez José Juan.
• The 2009 New Zealand National Champion is Calum Rickard.
• The 2009 Panama National Champion is Galileo de Obaldia.
• The 2009 Peruvian National Champion is Daniel Velasquez.
• The 2009 Polish National Champion is Sebastian Waldyra.
• The 2009 Portuguese National Champion is André Lopes.
• The 2009 Romanian National Champion is Gheorghe Radu-Teodor.
• The 2009 Singapore National Champion is Tan Hong Hwee Benjamin.
• The 2009 Slovenian National Champion is Matej Lavrinšek.
• The 2009 South African National Champion is Abdul Gaffoor.
• The 2009 Spanish National Champion is Andres Almozara.
• The 2009 Swedish National Champion is Axel Vilhelmsson.
• The 2009 Swiss National Champion is Marco Ahr.
• The 2009 United Kingdom National Champion is Nathan Pang.

2010 National Champions

• The 2010 American National Champion is Sean Montague. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Argentinean National Champion is Emiliano Passoni. (Infernity)
• The 2010 Australian National Champion is Ewan O'Keefe. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Austrian National Champion is Peter Gross. (Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
• The 2010 Belgian National Champion is Sébastien Gonzalez. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Brazilian National Champion is Lucas Vernaschi de Oliveira. (Gladiator Beast)
• The 2010 Bulgarian National Champion is Preslav Ivanov. (Machina)
• The 2010 Canadian National Champion is Aaron Noel. (Infernity)
• The 2010 Central American National Champion is Ricardo Lora Zavala. (Flamvell Cat)
• The 2010 Chilean National Champion is Sebastián Mora. (Infernity)
• The 2010 Costa Rican National Champion is Esteban José Chi Amén. (Caliber Cat)
• The 2010 Croatian National Chapion is Matija Vrbanić. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Danish National Champion is Casper Hersø Hansen. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Dutch National Champion is Kester Brons. (Gigavise)
• The 2010 East Japanese National Champion is NA★NA. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Ecuadorian National Champion is Luigi Belletini. (Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
• The 2010 Estonian National Champion is Karl Sarap. (Gladiator Beast)
• The 2010 French National Champion is Figueredo Terrence. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 German National Champion is Vinzent Reckling. (Gladiator Beast)
• The 2010 Hong Kong National Champion is Luk Chi-Hang. (Quickdraw Dandywarrior)
• The 2010 Italian National Champion is Fabio Minicozzi. (Herald of Perfection)
• The 2010 Korean National Champion is Kim-Tae-Woo. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Latvian National Champion is Marat Belov. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Lithuanian National Champion is Sviatoslav Burlakov. (Twilight)
• The 2010 Malaysian National Champion is Michael Yap Wei Keong. (Frog Monarchs)
• The 2010 Maltese National Champion is Ryan Farrugia. (Flamvell Cat)
• The 2010 Mexican National Champion is Uriel "Anibal" Valverde Mendoza. (Flamvell Cat)
• The 2010 New Zealand National Champion is Kevin Lau. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Nordic National Champion is Robert Corell Heinenen. (Macro Monarch)
• The 2010 Peruvian National Champion is Diego Rodriguez. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Philippines National Champion is Alvin Lim. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Portuguese National Champion is Nuno Lopes. (Frog Quickdraw)
• The 2010 Singapore National Champion is Jeremy Chua. (Machina Gadget)
• The 2010 Slovenian National Champion is Miha Flisek. (Frog Monarchs)
• The 2010 South African National Champion is Leuteris Chatziieremias. (Twilight)
• The 2010 South American National Champion is Juan Pablo Vera. (Frog OTK)
• The 2010 Spanish National Champion is Angel Matas Gutierrez. (X-Saber)
• The 2010 Swiss National Champion is Alex Sierra Garcia. (Frog Monarchs)
• The 2010 Taiwanese National Champion is She Wei Hao. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Thai National Champion is Apinan Chalermchatvichien. (Blackwing)
• The 2010 Turkish National Champion is Murat Bıçakcı. (Lightsworn)
• The 2010 United Kingdom and Ireland National Champion is Jamie Stafford. (Infernity)
• The 2010 West Japanese National Champion is Tanaka Shogo aka レオパルド (Leopard). (Machina Gadget)

2011 National Champions

• The 2011 American National Champion is Hansel Aguero. (T.G.)
• The 2011 Argentinan National Champion is David Maury. (Dragunity)
• The 2011 Australian National Champion is David Daritan. (Agent Fairy)
• The 2011 Austrian National Champion is Long Dao. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Belgian National Champion is Sébastien Gonzalez. (Chaos Plants)
• The 2011 Brazilian National Champion is Mario Vinnicius. (Gravekeeper's)
• The 2011 Bulgarian National Champion is Boris Ivanov. (Gladiator Beast)
• The 2011 Canadian National Champion is Bo Tang. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Costa Rica National Champion is Daniel Rojas. (Gravekeeper's)
• The 2011 Dominican National Champion is Yorguin Medina. (Lightsworn)
• The 2011 Dutch National Champion is Wytze Kluitenberg. (Gravekeeper's)
• The 2011 Ecuadorian National Champion is Roberth Carpio. (Chaos Plants)
• The 2011 French National Champion is Alain Ly. (Chaos Plant)
• The 2011 German National Champion is Markus Wichmann. (Tengu-Karakuri Machina Plants)
• The 2011 Honduran National Champion is Edgar Orellana. (Tengu Scraps)
• The 2011 Italian National Champion is Fabio Minicozzi. (Tengu Fabled)
• The 2011 Lithuanian National Champion is Augustinas Žalys. (Formula Monarchs)
• The 2011 Maltese National Champion is Ryan Farrugia. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Mexican National Champion is Alejandro Vivaldo Reyes Suarez. (Six Samurai)
• The 2011 Nicaraguan National Champion is Erick Allen. (Gravekeeper's)
• The 2011 Panama National Champion is Galileo De Obaldia. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Peruvian National Champion is Luis Crispin. (X-Saber)
• The 2011 Philippine National Champion is William Israel Sy. (Six Samurai Xyz)
• The 2011 Serbian National Champion is Strahinja Kljaic. (Earthbound Immortal)
• The 2011 Serbian National Champion is Vladimir Tucakov. (Earthbound Immortal)
• The 2011 Spanish National Champion is Juan Manuel López. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Swedish National Champion is Jacob Fallesen. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Swiss National Champion is Roman Kieser. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 Turkish National Champion is Can Beyazduman. (Tengu Plants)
• The 2011 United Kingdom and Ireland National Champion is Jake Quinsee. (Six Samurai)

2012 National Champions

• The 2012 German National Champion is Muci Izci. (Chaos Dragon)
• The 2012 Singaporean National Champion is Wesley Seek. (Inzektor)
• The 2012 Turkish National Champion is Murat Bıçakcı. (Dino Rabbit)
• The 2012 Venezuelan National Champion is José David Martínez. (Bubble Beat)

In the Anime/Manga

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime, several National Champions have been seen, although limited to the United States and Japan.

American National Champions

"Bandit" Keith Howard was a former American National Champion until he lost the title to Maximillion Pegasus. (In the English dub, Keith was classified the Intercontinental Champion as the setting for the series was made more vague.)

Later in the series, Leon von Schroder (Leonhart von Schroider in the Japanese) became the European National Champion, participating in Seto Kaiba's KC Grand Prix Championship.

Japanese National Champions

Seto Kaiba was formerly the Japanese National Champion prior to pulling out of the latest National Championship, leaving Weevil Underwood to claim the title. In the 4Kids dub, he is an American National Champion along with Weevil Underwood. Yugi Muto later takes the title from Weevil when he defeats him in the first match of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. By defeating Maximillion Pegasus and winning the Duelist Kingdom tournament, Yugi Muto becomes the "King of Games" and the Duel Monsters World Champion.