Matchroom Pool is pleased to announce the World Pool Championship 2023 will take place in Kielce, Poland in partnership with the Polish Billiard Association from February 1-5 as the world’s best descend on Targi Kielce Exhibition & Congress Centre live on Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics as well as on Sky Sports in the UK, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Spain, and Italy with further broadcasters to be announced.
Kielce is no stranger to big Matchroom events and last hosted the 2012 World Pool Masters where it was Poland’s own Karol Skowerski who came out on top. Since then, Poland has become a breeding ground for top Nineball players with 17 currently listed on the Live Nineball World Rankings. Of which, ten are inside the world’s top 100 including World No. 7 Wiktor Zielinski, World No. 15 Konrad Juszczyszyn, World No. 16 Mieszko Fortunski, and Wojciech Szewczyk, Tomasz Kapłan, Karol Skowerski, Daniel Macioł, Sebastian Batkowski, Mateusz Śniegocki, Radosław Babica.
The Polish Billiard Association has worked closely with Matchroom to bring the World Pool Championship to Poland for the first time in the tournament’s history. Partners in Poland include the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland, Marshal of Swietokrzyskie Province, Mayor of Kielce City, and Nosan Company.
Tickets are available soon from only 25 PLZ (€5) for a day ticket, and 100 PLZ (€20) for all five days of action in Kielce. Sign up for ticket alerts here.
Defending champion Shane Van Boening will head to the city looking to keep hold of his world crown that he claimed in April 2022 downing Albin Ouschan in the final in the 128 strong field taken from the Live Nineball World Rankings.
The tournament will be the opening Matchroom event on the Nineball World Ranking schedule with the Blue-Ribbon event offering $325,000 in total prize money with the winner taking home $60,000.
Last year saw the introduction of a new double-elimination format to improve the quality of the tournament which will remain in 2023. Fans will be able to sweat the action on three tables with one TV broadcast and two streaming tables available via the Matchroom YouTube channels. Those in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Netherlands will be able to watch on Viaplay. Sky Sports will be the home of the World Pool Championship in the UK and Ireland whilst fans in the USA, Canada, Spain, and Italy will be able to watch live on DAZN. More broadcasters will be announced closer to the time. Matchroom.Live will be available to those without a broadcaster in their country.
Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director Emily Frazer said: “We’re so excited to take the World Pool Championship to Poland, a place that is a hot bed for Nineball. I am looking forward to welcoming the world’s best to Kielce for what promises to be another breath-taking week of action. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Polish Billiard Association and partners for all their hard work already to bring the event to a new country. I believe the production will be the best to date for a multi-table event with exciting plans to extend our coverage further.”
Matchroom Pool 宣布 2023年世界撞球錦標賽將移師位於波蘭東南部的凱爾采 (Kielce) 舉行。波蘭撞球協會與 Matchroom 密切合作，成就了賽事歷史上首次將世界撞球錦標賽帶到波蘭。其中在波蘭的合作夥伴還包括有波蘭體育與觀光旅遊局、凱爾采市市長、聖十字省省長與 Nosan公司。
凱爾采上一次舉辦 Matchroom 賽事為 2012年的世界花式撞球大師賽 (World Pool Masters)，該屆比賽由地主波蘭選手 Karol Skowerski 奪冠。從那時起，波蘭成為了孕育頂尖球員的搖籃之一，在九號球世界排名前100名中有排名第七的 Wiktor Zielinski, 第十五的 Konrad Juszczyszyn, 第十六的 Mieszko Fortunski, 以及 Wojciech Szewczyk, Tomasz Kapłan, Karol Skowerski, Daniel Macioł, Sebastian Batkowski, Mateusz Śniegocki 與 Radosław Babica 在內的17位波蘭選手排名其中。
世界撞球錦標賽將於 2 月 1 日至 5 日於凱爾采的 Targi Kielce 會展中心舉行，同時也是 Matchroom 九號球世界排名賽賽程中的開幕賽事。賽事總獎金為32萬5千美元，冠軍選手將獲得6萬美元。而為提高比賽質量於去年引入的新雙敗淘汰賽制也將續留至2023年。屆時將有三張球桌提供直播，一張為電視傳播，另外兩張直播則可通過 Matchroom YouTube 頻道觀看；電視台轉播方面，波蘭、斯堪地那維亞半島國家與波羅的海國家將於 Viaplay頻道直播，英國地區為天空體育 (Sky Sports)，美國、加拿大、西班牙與義大利則在DAZN頻道，其他國家與地區則將於日後宣布。Matchroom.Live 則將提供給該國家無電視頻道的球迷可觀看。
Matchroom Multi Sport 總監 Emily Frazer 說道：”我們很高興能將世界撞球錦標賽帶到波蘭，這裡是九號球的溫床。 我期待著歡迎世界上最好的球員來到凱爾採，因為那又將是一個充滿賽事令人激動人心的一週。我想藉此機會感謝波蘭撞球協會與合作夥伴為將這項賽事帶到一個新的國家所付出的辛勤工作。”