Edited Dec. 22, 21 to correct the Dean's List Finalist count in the table for Ontario (from 5 to 3). 

Edited Jan. 11, 22 to clarify implications if a District team qualifies for FIRST Championship at a Regional.

Edited Feb. 8, 22 to update FIRST Championship District allocations per Team Update 09.

Edited Mar 15, 22 per Team Update 17.

Edited Mar 16, 22 to correct a team number typo.

Edited Mar 18 & 24, 22, 31, Apr 6, 13 to add Priority Waitlist Release information

Edited Apr. 11, to note that the Open Waitlist is closed.

In order to compete at the 2022 FIRST^® Championship, a 2022 registered FIRST^® Robotics Competition team must be eligible.

Teams are eligible to register for the FIRST Championship if they are:

• a Pre-Qualifying Team,
• a Merit-Based Qualifying Team,
• invited from the Priority Waitlist, or
• invited from the Open Waitlist.

Pre-Qualifying Teams

Hall of Fame teams that earned their FIRST Championship Chairman’s Award in the last ten years were invited to be pre-qualified teams. This list included FRC Teams 27, 503, 597, 987, 1114, 1311, 1538, 1816, 1902, 2614, 2834, 3132, and 4613. If one of these teams declined Pre-Qualified status, another Hall of Fame team was selected by the Hall of Fame group as a replacement. The final list of Pre-Qualified Hall of Fame teams is 27, 254, 341, 359, 365, 597, 503, 987, 1538, 1816, 1902, 2614, and 2834.

Merit-Based Qualifying Teams

Merit-Based Qualifying slots are issued based on a team's performance during the season. Eligible teams are automatically given the opportunity to register for the FIRST Championship at the time of their win at either a Regional Event or at their District Championship. A District team does not earn District points for accomplishments at a Regional event, nor are they eligible for the event’s FIRST Championship qualifying judged awards. If a District team earns a FIRST Championship slot at a Regional event, that slot counts as part of the District’s FIRST Championship allocation. If a District team is offered a slot at the FIRST Championship off either waitlist, that slot does not count as part of the District’s FIRST Championship allocation.

District Model

Each District determines the number of Dean’s List Finalists, Chairman’s, Rookie All Star, and Engineering Inspiration Awards to present at their Championship, within a range established by FIRST. The team counts are based on the team representation of the respective District at the Championship. For the awards, ranges are developed by using ratios agreed upon by FIRST and District Leadership. These ranges allow each District to represent their own community as they see fit.

• For the Chairman’s Award, the ratios range from one Chairman’s Award team for every 18 Championship District teams to one Chairman’s Award team for every nine Championship District teams.
• For the Dean’s List Finalist Award, the ratios range from one Dean’s List Finalist for every nine Championship District teams to one Dean’s List Finalist for every six Championship District teams.
• All Districts, regardless of FIRST Championship Slot allocation, may award one or two Engineering Inspiration and Rookie All-Star Awards.

The following teams competing in the District model earn a Merit-Based Qualifying slot:

• District Championship (a District that has their Championship the weekend before the FIRST Championship may make modifications to this advancement plan; changes, if any, will be communicated through District Management)
  • Chairman's Award Winners
  • Engineering Inspiration Award Winners
  • Rookie All-Star Winners (the District can decide if they present this award or not)
  • Winning Alliance members
• as many teams in District-points total order to fill the Allocated FIRST Championship slots granted per the table below. 

Districts receive the percentage of 'available slots' at FIRST Championship, rounded up to the nearest whole slot, equal to the percentage of teams they have in their District compared to the total of all FIRST Robotics Competition teams. 'Available slots' are calculated by taking the total number of slots at FIRST Championship and subtracting the number of pre-qualified teams. This overall calculation uses a ‘snapshot’ of teams that have registered and paid as of three weeks after initial season payment was due.

Regional Model

The following teams earn a Merit-Based Qualifying slot:

• Chairman's Award Winners
• Engineering Inspiration Award Winners
• Winning Alliance: Captains
• Winning Alliance: 1^st Picks
• Wild Card recipients

The following teams attending Single Day Regional Events earn a Merit-Based Qualifying slot: 

• Chairman's Award Winners
• Engineering Inspiration Award Winners
• Captains of the Winning Alliances for each day

Wild Cards

If a team at a Regional earned a FIRST Championship spot prior to the Regional and then wins the Chairman's Award, Engineering Inspiration Award, or is the Winning Alliance's Captain or 1^st Pick at that Regional or is already a Pre-Qualifying team, it generates a Wild Card, i.e. a FIRST Championship Merit-Based slot that is offered to another team. Teams that receive a FIRST Championship slot via a Priority or Open Waitlist do not generate Wild Cards.

Any team earning 2 qualifying spots at a single Regional generates 1 Wild Card.

Wild Cards are distributed in the following order:

1. the Winning Alliance 2^nd pick,
2. Rookie All-Star Award Winner,
3. Winning Alliance backup team (if applicable),
4. Finalist Alliance Captain,
5. Finalist Alliance 1^st pick,
6. Finalist Alliance 2^nd pick,
7. Finalist Alliance backup team (if applicable).

Wild Cards are distributed at Single Day Regional Events in the following order:

1. one of 1^st picks from the Winning Alliances (random selection),
2. one of 1^st picks from the Winning Alliances (random selection),
3. the remaining 1^st pick from the Winning Alliances,
4. one of 2^nd picks from the Winning Alliances (random selection),
5. one of 2^nd picks from the Winning Alliances (random selection),
6. the remaining 2^nd pick from the Winning Alliances,
7. Rookie All-Star Award Winner.

Wild Cards are distributed until either all Wild Card slots generated at that event are consumed or the Finalist Alliance is out of Teams, whichever comes first. If a Wild Card eligible team already earned a spot at the FIRST Championship, they are skipped, and the next member next eligible team is given the available Wild Card. A team may decline a Wild Card, but this does not pass the Wild Card to the next team, instead, the Wild Card goes unused. Unused Wild Card slots are not back-filled or replaced.

Priority Waitlist

Regional Rookie-All-Star Award winners, Winning Alliance 2^nd Picks (and 1^st picks from Single Day Regionals that didn't receive a Wild Card), and Winning Alliance Backup teams (if applicable) are automatically placed on a Priority Waitlist. The process and selection criteria for pulling from the Priority Waitlist are described in this Feb 16, 2022 blog. FIRST Championship slots not consumed by Pre-Qualifying and Merit-Based Qualifying teams are filled using the Priority Waitlist until it is exhausted.

The number of Priority Waitlist slots released to date is included in the following table: 

Open Waitlist

Note: As of Apr. 8, 2022, the Open Waitlist is closed. 

Teams may join the FIRST Championship Open Waitlist to fill slots not consumed by Pre-Qualifying, Merit-Based Qualifying, or Priority Waitlist teams. 

Teams sign up for the Open Waitlist through the Dashboard. To do so, a team’s Lead Mentor 1 or 2 must

1. log in to the Dashboard,
2. in the Team Events section, click the “Event Options” drop-down menu,
3. select View Team Events,
4. click the Find An Event button,
5. locate the FIRST Championship Event ;in the event list, and
6. click the Waitlist button.