The League of Rising Scales makes performance visible

Bokoi opens with fuore, Poppe, de Wit and Schrijvers set up first game of season

The first official midterm of The League of Rising Scales has come true!
And honestly? You can already feel that something has changed. Because suddenly we are no longer looking at single weekends. No more looking at one cup, one Grand Champion or one applause moment on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, something is emerging that the koi hobby never really had: a season!

An ongoing story in which results continue to impact. In which participants begin to follow one another. In which strategy emerges. In which choices become meaningful. In which one strong show shoots you up … but in which downtime can throw you back just as fast. And that’s exactly why this first ranking feels immediately interesting.

Bokoi opens with a statement

The name at the top of the rankings is currently without dispute:

But what makes this opening score so impressive is mainly the way it is constructed. Not via one all-decisive Grand Champion. Not via one lucky hit. But via sheer breadth. At the Belgian Koi Show, Bokoi scored among others:

• 6× Best in Variety
• 2 Best in Size awards
• Adult Champion
• AND a huge amount of first places within variety & size classes (18)
• plus 5 second places

Frank and his son also won some third prizes, but they don’t give points in the league. It brought them a point total of 895 and that is multiplied by the show factor. For Belgium that factor is 1.1 and that brings them to one total of 984.5. And because according to Japanese philosophy we assume the positive, we round up half numbers in the rankings. And that’s where you immediately see the power of The League of Rising Scales emerge. Because before, such achievements often disappeared behind a single headline:

“Who won the Grand?”

But within the league, everything counts. A Best in Variety suddenly becomes not a separate fancy award, but a building block within a larger seasonal story. First place in a league becomes relevant. Breadth becomes visible. Consistency gets value. And that is perhaps the greatest signal of all. People aren’t just looking at results anymore. They begin to follow the season.

Filip Poppe versus Geert Schrijvers

The first real game of the league

And then the fight on which perhaps most eyes are currently focused.

• Filip Poppe – 710 points is the highest scoring hobbyist in Belgium
• Geert Schrijvers – 620 points is the highest scoring hobbyist in Italy.

On paper, that seems like an obvious difference. But once you look under the hood of the league, it suddenly becomes much more interesting. Belgium versus Italy The Belgian Koi Show ran with about: 70 competition vessels And therefore fell in: Major Show = factor x1.1

The Italian show ran with approximately: 33 match vessels. And therefore fell in: Minor Show = factor x0.8. And that is exactly where one of the most fascinating dynamics of this league arises. Because if you take out the show factor and look at the raw performance before multiplier, Filip Poppe and Geert Schrijvers are surprisingly close.

Filip Poppe

710 ÷ 1.1
= about 645 raw points

Geert Schrijvers

620 ÷ 0.8
= about 775 raw points

And suddenly the perspective changes completely. Because purely in terms of award volume and raw performance, Geert was actually running a gigantic show in Italy. But Filip rightly benefits from a larger competitive environment in Belgium with significantly more competition vessels and thus more competitive pressure. And exactly that is why that competition factor exists. Not to make small shows less important. But to make performances within larger competitive fields proportionally more important.

Different playing styles between dealers and hobbyists

What is immediately striking within the first intermediate rankings of The League of Rising Scales is how differently hobbyists and professionals are currently accumulating points. Among professionals, we see especially broad, cumulative performances across complete lineups. Bokoi is the perfect example: not an isolated outlier, but a huge amount of Best in Variety awards, Best in Size awards and class wins that add up to an impressive 985 points. Parties such as Koi Italia, Niwa Koi and Zankoi are also visibly building their scores through breadth and constant presence within multiple varieties.

Among hobbyists, on the contrary, a different picture emerges. There, larger individual awards currently seem much more decisive for the top of the standings. Filip Poppe leads with 710 points, but his score is strongly built around a combination of heavy championship awards and additional achievements. Wim De Wit and Geert Schrijvers follow at a relatively close distance

In addition, the current rankings show that professionals dominate in breadth for the time being, while hobbyists lean more heavily on peak performance for the time being. At the same time, that picture can tilt rapidly as soon as hobbyists start combining multiple shows. Especially now that next weekend will be the first time contestants will be active at two or even three shows, it is only beginning to become apparent who can carry a full league season.

Holland is going to break open the season

Because where Belgium and Italy have now put points on the board … the Netherlands has not yet played a single show. What immediately stands out within the first intermediate rankings is how strongly the league is currently carried by Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, but all in completely different ways. For now, Belgium dominates mainly in breadth and volume. Not only are Belgian contestants massively represented in both the hobbyist and professional rankings, but many of the highest scores have been accumulated at the larger Belgian show with higher competition factor. As a result, you can see that Belgian contestants currently carry a lot of momentum from a strong competitive field with many competition vessels and broad participation.

Italy, on the other hand, stands out for efficiency. Despite the lower show factor of x0.8, Italian participants manage to appear remarkably high in the rankings. Koi Italia, Zankoi, Matteo Bondioli, Luca Perocco and several other Italian names show that the Italian scene is currently operating extremely competitively within relatively compact shows. That perhaps makes their current positions even more impressive, since many of those scores were built without the benefits of the larger Belgian multiplier. Once Italian participants were to play more shows internationally, that could have huge implications for the standings later in the season.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, is in a unique position. Although Dutch participants already visibly score high, with Bokoi and Geert Schrijvers among others in the absolute top, no Dutch shows have yet been played within the season and only operated with “away games”. This is precisely why the upcoming Dutch shows will be hugely interesting, as a real home ground for Dutch league points will be created there for the first time. Who enter the playing field! Who will credit points for a second or maybe even third show?

Because next weekend:

• the Koi Cave Koi Show in Oudenbosch
• and during Whit Monday the Young Holland Koi Show at Veldhoven Koi Farm

And suddenly we get something new: the first participants who:

• have played two shows
• some even three
• and so start building real seasonal consistency

From now on, it’s no longer just about: a good weekend. But about sustaining performance. At the same time, you can already see how international the playing field is starting to become, with French and Danish contestants having collected their first points in addition. And there are also two more shows to be played in France this season. With that, the season is already starting to feel like a real international competition instead of separate national show weekends.

Filip Poppe puts immediate pressure on season

Suddenly you see something emerge that used to be barely visible: strategic tension. One strong weekend puts you at the top, but from that point on there is automatic pressure to keep performing visibly. And that’s exactly where the real difficulty of a league seems to arise. Not just peak, but keep coming back. Not just bringing one perfect koi, but staying relevant for a season within an international playing field that shifts every show. That sense of constant movement – of momentum that can be built up AND lost is perhaps the greatest new dimension already becoming apparent within the hobby.

Which koi do you play where? Which fish do you keep? When do you take a risk? Where do you want to peak? Who do you possibly play against where and what does he bring?

That’s league thinking.

The rankings

Among the professionals, we currently see clear national leaders emerging within The League of Rising Scales. In the Netherlands, Bokoi convincingly leads the professional standings with 985 points, while in Belgium Niwa Koi is currently the strongest professional with 512 points. Italy is provisionally led by Koi Italia with 588 points, followed by Zankoi with 412 points, which directly shows how strong the Italian professional scene is currently performing despite the lower show factor. In France, Poisson d’Or provisionally tops the professionals with 220 points

Among hobbyists, the playing field is at least as interesting. Belgium actually holds the two strongest hobbyist scores of the entire season for now with Filip Poppe on 710 points and Wim De Wit on 627 points. The Netherlands is led by Geert Schrijvers with 620 points, which immediately keeps him one of the most dangerous hobbyists of the season. Italy currently sees Matteo Bondioli as the national leader with 340 points, followed by Luca Perocco with 216 points. In France, Florent Rousseau leads the hobbyist standings with 242 points, while Denmark is provisionally represented by Morten Nielsen with 96 points. What immediately stands out here is how international the league already feels even though the season has really only just begun. I personally think that is great to see.

Will Bokoi continue to build?

And then, of course, the big question: was Bokoi an opening storm? Or are we looking at a competitor who can really dominate a full season? Because fair is fair:
what Bokoi showed in Belgium was impressive. Not only in terms of top quality. But especially in the depth of the lineup. And exactly that makes a competitor dangerous over a long season. Because leagues are rarely won by one absolute outlier. Will Bokoi play more shows?
Will there be international participation? Will they be looking toward the Netherlands? France maybe? Because as of now, everyone is going to look at the number one.

Young Holland Koi Show may become a wildcard

And perhaps that very Young Holland Koi Show will be one of the most interesting moments of the early season. Because within The League of Rising Scales, Young Shows count fully within the same competitive structure.

So:

• there, too, majors are enormously valuable
• Best in Variety awards count there, too
• gigantic jumps can occur there as well

And that opens up completely new strategic layers. Because some participants excel precisely with young koi. Others may deliberately build their season around young shows. And suddenly the league becomes much less predictable.

What is already becoming beautifully visible is how professionals and hobbyists are completely intermingled. And exactly that is what makes this league alive. Because suddenly stories are emerging that used to be barely visible. The league makes achievements visible that used to simply disappear after Sunday night.

No hype. One season.

Perhaps that is ultimately the biggest change. The League of Rising Scales is not trying to make shows bigger than they are. On the contrary. Its strength lies precisely in connecting existing performances without touching the autonomy of shows. This creates:

• more context
• more continuity
• more tension
• more recognition
• and slowly more history as well

Because participants are now beginning to follow each other. And that may just be the beginning. But one thing is clear by now: The League of Rising Scales no longer revolves around one weekend. The season is alive and well!

From now on you can always find the rankings on our website in the main menu under TLORS. Here you can also find the complete ranking and the official rules with all the points, show factors and awards to be given at the end of the season.