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.”
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