The World Cup of Pool is an annual international single-elimination tournament for doubles teams in nine-ball pool competition. The Philippines holds the record in tournament wins, winning the event on four occasions. In 2023, they became the first country to win the cup by entering the event unseeded.[1][2]

World Cup of Pool
SportNine-ball pool
Founded2006
First season2006
Most recent
champion(s)
 Philippines
(4th title)
James Aranas / Johann Chua
(2023)
Most titles Philippines
(4 titles)
Tournament formatDoubles team, Single-elimination

History

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The tournament is held annually, at various locations, and was first held in 2006 in Newport, Wales.[3] The tournament is hosted by Matchroom Pool.

Format

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There are usually 32 participating teams, representing 31 nations (the host nation is represented by two teams, A and B) composed of two players each. The participating nations do not have to go through a qualifying tournament in order to join, as they are selected by the organizers. Sixteen teams are seeded; they will face the unseeded teams at the first round.

The individual matches are scotch doubles with alternating break, which are races to seven racks for Round 1 and 2, nine racks for the quarterfinals and semifinals, and eleven for the final. The rules used are World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World Standardized Rules for nine-ball, modified for scotch doubles play (players on a team alternate shots; no one shoots twice in a row, unless being asked to play again after pushing out).[4]

Results

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Year Host Final Semi-finalists
Winner Score Runner-up
2006
Details
  Wales (Newport)  
Philippines

(Reyes / Bustamante)
13–5  
United States
(Strickland / Morris)
 
Germany
(Engert / Ortmann)
 
Vietnam
(Nguyen / Luong)
2007
Details
  Netherlands (Rotterdam)  
China

(Li / Fu)
11–10  
Finland
(Immonen / Juva)
 
Japan
(Kawabata / Oi)
 
Canada
(Martel / Montal)
2008
Details
  Netherlands (Rotterdam)  
United States

(Morris / Van Boening)
11–7  
England
(Peach / Gray)
 
Philippines
(Bustamante / Orcollo)
 
China
(Li / Fu)
2009
Details
  Philippines (Quezon City)  
Philippines

(Reyes / Bustamante)
11–9  
Germany
(Souquet / Hohmann)
 
China
(Li / Fu)
 
Philippines
(Alcano / Orcollo)
2010
Details
  Philippines (Manila)  
China
(Li / Fu)
10–5  
Philippines
(Orcollo / Gomez)
 
Germany
(Souquet / Ortmann)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Pin-yi / Jung-lin)
2011
Details
  Philippines (Quezon City)  
Germany

(Souquet / Hohmann)
10–4  
Thailand
(Kanjanasri / Palajin)
 
Korea
(Lee / Hwang)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Pin-yi / Ping-chung)
2012
Details
  Philippines (Manila)  
Finland

(Immonen / Makkonen)
10–8  
Poland
(Skowerski / Szewczyk)
 
United States
(Van Boening / Morris)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Hsu / Chen)
2013
Details
  England (London)  
Philippines

(Orcollo / Corteza)
10–8  
Netherlands
(Feijen / van den Berg)
 
Finland
(Immonen / Makkonen)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Pin-yi / Jung-lin)
2014
Details
  England (Portsmouth)  
England

(Appleton / Boyes)
10–9  
Netherlands
(Feijen / van den Berg)
 
Finland
(Immonen / Makkonen)
 
Austria
(Ouschan / He)
2015
Details
  England (London)  
Chinese Taipei

(Ko / Chang)
10–8  
England
(Gray / Peach)
 
Japan
(Oi / Kuribayashi)
 
England
(Appleton / Boyes)
2017
Details
  England (London)  
Austria

(He / Ouschan)
10–6  
United States
(Van Boening / Woodward)
 
China
(Wu / Dang)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Ko / Chang)
2018
Details
  China (Shanghai)  
China

(Wu / Liu)
10–3  
Austria
(He / Ouschan)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Jung-lin / Yu-hsuan)
 
China
(Kong / Wang)
2019
Details
  England (Leicester)  
Austria

(He / Ouschan)
11–3  
Philippines
(Biado / de Luna)
 
Netherlands
(Bijsterbosch / Feijen)
 
Spain
(Alcaide / Sánchez Ruíz)
2021
Details
  England (Milton Keynes)  
Germany

(Filler / Reintjes)
11–7  
Great Britain
(Appleton / Boyes)
 
Estonia
(Grabe / Magi)
 
Slovakia
(Koniar / Polách)
2022
Details
  England (Brentwood)  
Spain

(Alcaide / Sánchez Ruíz)
11–6  
Singapore
(Yapp / Toh)
 
Chinese Taipei
(Ko / Ko)
 
United States
(Van Boening / Woodward)
2023
Details
  Spain (Lugo)  
Philippines

(Aranas / Chua)
11–7  
Germany
(Filler / Neuhausen)
 
Austria
(He / Ouschan)
 
China
(Wu / Wang)

Statistics

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Best performances by nation (as of 2023). Not shown is Great Britain (Quarterfinals in 2019). The home nations of the United Kingdom competed separately in other editions.

Performances by nation

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# Country Winners Runners-up Semi-finalists Top 4
1   Philippines 4 (2006, 2009, 2013, 2023) 2 (2010, 2019) 2 (2008, 2009) 8
2   China 3 (2007, 2010, 2018) 5 (2008, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2023) 8
3   Germany 2 (2011, 2021) 2 (2009, 2023) 2 (2006, 2010) 6
4   Austria 2 (2017, 2019) 1 (2018) 2 (2014, 2023) 5
5   Great Britain^ 1 (2014) 3 (2008, 2015, 2021) 1 (2015) 5
6   United States 1 (2008) 2 (2006, 2017) 2 (2012, 2022) 5
7   Finland 1 (2012) 1 (2007) 2 (2013, 2014) 4
8   Chinese Taipei 1 (2015) 7 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
2017, 2018, 2022)
8
9   Spain 1 (2022) 1 (2019) 2
10   Netherlands 2 (2013, 2014) 1 (2019) 3
11   Thailand 1 (2011) 1
  Poland 1 (2012) 1
  Singapore 1 (2022) 1
12   Japan 2 (2007, 2015) 2
13   Vietnam 1 (2006) 1
  Canada 1 (2007) 1
  Korea 1 (2011) 1
  Estonia 1 (2021) 1
  Slovakia 1 (2021) 1
Total 16 16 32 64

^ = Results include England from 2006 to 2023

Performance by Continent

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# Continent Winners Runners-up Semi-finalists Total
1 Asia 8 4 18 30
2 Europe 7 10 11 28
3 North America 1 2 3 6
4 South America - - - -
5 Africa - - - -
6 Oceania - - - -

References

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  1. ^ Saldajeno, Ivan Stewart (July 3, 2023). "PH makes history as duo wins World Cup of Pool title". Philippine news agency. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  2. ^ Pool, Matchroom (2023-07-02). "THE PHILIPPINES CREATE WORLD CUP OF POOL HISTORY". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  3. ^ "World Cup of Pool - Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  4. ^ "World Cup of Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
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