World Championship Qualifiers

National Tournaments happen in selected countries, organised by Konami, usually through their official distributors in the nation.

In Europe, there is also a continental championship featuring duelists from across the continent.

National Champions

2004 National Champions

• The 2004 American Champion was Theerasak Poonsombat.
• The 2004 Italian Champion was Dario Longo.

2005 National Champions

• The 2005 American Champion was Max Suffridge.
• The 2005 Belgian Champion was Guy Israel.
• The 2005 Dutch Champion was Guan Her Ng.
• The 2005 United Kingdom Champion was Adam Kruszynski.
• The 2005 Canadian Champion was Dexter Dalit
• The 2005 Italian Champion was Namer Merli

2006 National Champions

• The 2006 American Champion was Austin Kulman.
• The 2006 Italian Champion was Dario Longo.
• The 2006 Canadian Champion was Calvin Tsang.
• The 2006 German Champion was Michel Grüner.
• The 2006 Irish Champion was Darren Walsh.
• The 2006 United Kingdom Champion was Wayne Pinkney.

2007 National Champions

• The 2007 American Champion was Adam Corn
• The 2007 Canadian Champion was Dexter Dalit
• The 2007 Belgian Champion was Jonas Couvreur
• The 2007 Italian Champion was Marco Mazzuoccolo
• The 2007 English National Champion was Andrew Lam

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 in the Anime/Manga

"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 American National Champion, participating in Seto Kaiba's KC Grand Prix Championship.

Japanese National Champions in the Anime/Manga

Seto Kaiba was formerly the Japanese national champion prior to pulling out of the latest national championship, leaving Weevil Underwood to claim the title.