12.2  FIRST Championship Eligibility

Regional teams can qualify for FIRST Championship in one of two ways:

1.      Direct Event Qualification

2.      Regional Pool

12.2.1   Direct Event Qualification

At every regional event, teams earn points based on the point system. Regional teams can earn points from and qualify directly for the FIRST Championship at any Regional event they attend. The top x number of teams who earned the most points at each event and who have not already qualified for the FIRST Championship qualify for the FIRST Championship.

-        Each International event will advance 4 teams.

-        Each US event will advance 3 teams.

Any team who wins the FIRST Impact Award at a Regional event and does not qualify for FIRST Championship via a direct slot or from the Regional Pool will be offered a remote interview to be eligible to win at FIRST Championship. Teams who win the award and qualify for the FIRST Championship must still attend the event in order to receive an interview.

12.2.2   Regional Pool

All Regional event teams not already qualified for the FIRST Championship are ranked together in the “Regional Pool” based on the points earned from their first two regional events. The top ranked teams from this pool earn FIRST Championship qualification spots on a weekly basis beginning after week 2. This list helps ensure the top performing teams across events qualify for the FIRST Championship and allows for the consideration of performance across multiple events for teams. Awarding points at the first two events, with a projection if a team has only played one event, rewards consistent performance over the season without being punitive to single-event teams.

The global Regional Rankings webpage shows all regional teams in rank order by their assigned points. Teams are invited to the FIRST Championship from the Regional Pool on a weekly basis beginning after Week 2.

Our goal is to release enough slots each week so that the same proportion of Championship slots have been filled as events have been completed. For example, if 35 of 56 (~68%) Regional Events are completed after Week 4, we plan to have approximately the same percentage of Regional slots filled by that point.

If a team has only played one event at the end of the interval, they are awarded second event points using this formula:

This model is based on a regression of Event 1 vs Event 2 points in 2023 and 2024. This calculation projects how many points would be earned by the average team who earned X points at their first event. If the result is not a whole number, the value is rounded to the nearest integer.