The World Scholar's Cup · Tournament of Champions

Bring together the best of the World Scholar鈥檚 Cup with one of the leading universities in the world, and you鈥檒l discover our annual Tournament of Champions, hosted by the Yale International Relations Association at Yale University.

The 2024 Tournament of Champions is scheduled for November 14-20.

All three scholars on each Tournament of Champions team must have qualified at a 2024 Global Round, and each team must have at least two scholars who qualified as teammates. The third scholar on a team may be a substitute who also qualified at a Global Round but whose teammates are not participating.

The Tournament of Champions is more than just another Global Round. You鈥檒l have the chance to interact with and learn directly from Yale students and faculty. You鈥檒l attend a special panel on college life and on how to leverage your World Scholar鈥檚 Cup experience as part of your admissions portfolio. You鈥檒l eat Yale dining hall food. You鈥檒l meet our keynote speakers, including a Yale University professor. And you鈥檒l come away knowing what it鈥檚 like to be a student at one of the world鈥檚 greatest universities.

Due to venue restrictions, access to theaters and other venues will be restricted to scholars and a limited number of registered adults per delegation. Only judges and participants will be allowed inside buildings used for debate.

You can also look forward to the Yale Ball, where you can dance (or not dance) with your fellow scholars from over fifty countries, a special Thanksgiving-ish meal (which may actually be Tex-Mex), and beautiful historic venues for the Scholar鈥檚 Bowl, Debate Showcase, and Scholar鈥檚 Show - the Shubert Theatre and Yale's own Woolsey Hall.

During a scavenger hunt that will take you to every corner of Yale鈥檚 campus and the surrounding community, you鈥檒l encounter real alpacas, too, including our very own Painted Warrior鈥攖he official alpaca of the Tournament of Champions. He's 15, so it's a good thing you're meeting him soon.

Due to venue constraints, the Tournament of Champions can accommodate only a limited number of teams per division. Once we reach capacity, we will not be able to accept further registrations. Please be sure to register your teams and make travel plans simultaneously; delegations that book flights but plan to register later may find that there's no space left for them.

To help ensure that the ToC experience is equally available to participants across all global rounds, we require qualifying teams who wish to participate at the ToC to complete a non-binding intent to participate form within 30 days of receiving their qualification letter. Qualifying teams who did not complete this form within this window will only be accommodated as space permits.

We also encourage all delegations to complete the full registration form as soon as possible to secure their spots.

Information about recommended hotels will be available in September.

An optional shuttle will be available from official hotels in Milford and Shelton. More details will be available in September.

We recommend flying into any New York area airport or directly into New Haven. For delegations looking for airport-to-Yale transfers, we recommend Go Airport Shuttle. Yale University also outlines other transportation options here.

Information about optional tours will be available in September.

Please contact us if you need an invitation letter for visa purposes. The correct category of visa to travel to the United States for participating in the event is B1/B2 (tourist/business).

You might need gloves, especially at night: it鈥檚 New England in November. Then again, it's really only the third week of November, so maybe you don't need your snowshoes. We'll find out together.

Do you have questions about registration, invitation letters, shuttle buses, or tours? Visit our FAQ page!

We鈥檙e incredibly grateful to our hosts at the Yale International Relations Association (and to our long-time friend Denise at the Stone Bridge Alpaca Farm) for making possible this special culminating event of the World Scholar鈥檚 Cup season, now in its thirteenth year.