The first 12 players for the inaugural Premier League Pool at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes from Monday, February 14 to Monday, February 21 have been confirmed off the Nineball World Rankings with four further players due to join the field as wild cards.
World No.1 Albin Ouschan will lead the field with a total prize fund of $100,000 on offer with first place taking home $20,000 and a minimum of $2,5000 guaranteed with the likes of the USA’s Shane Van Boening, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, Japan’s Naoyuki Oi, Kuwait’s Omar Al-Shaheen and 2021 Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw part of the line-up.
Four wild cards will make up the 16 players as they compete in a league format. It will be a non-ranking event broadcast worldwide across two tables. Fans in the USA will be able to watch live on DAZN and in the UK on FreeSports. New broadcasters are being added daily but find out where to watch in your country so far here.
The below 12 earned their entry off the Nineball World Rankings
- Albin Ouschan (AUSTRIA)
- David Alcaide (SPAIN)
- Shane Van Boening (USA)
- Max Lechner (AUSTRIA)
- Aloysius Yapp (SINGAPORE)
- Naoyuki Oi (JAPAN)
- Joshua Filler (GERMANY)
- Eklent Kaçi (ALBANIA)
- Alexander Kazakis (GREECE)
- Omar Al-Shaheen (KUWAIT)
- Jayson Shaw (SCOTLAND)
- Oliver Szolnoki (HUNGARY)
Premier League Pool Format
- All 16 players face each other once across the first five days of play
- After day five, the bottom 6 in the League Table are eliminated
- The remaining 10 players face each other again across days six and seven before 4 more players are eliminated
- The remaining 6 play each other once more on day eight before the top four contend the playoffs
- All group matches race to 5, alternate break
- A win will give a player a point on the league table
- After points, the table will be determined by Rack Difference then Racks Won followed by Head-to-Head record if nothing can split players.