2024 World Nineball Pool Championship: Tournament Guide and Information

Held at the Green Halls in Jeddah, this latest installment represents the opening edition of a ten-year contract for the Kingdom to host the tournament in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation and the Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia.

The event is part of the rapidly expanding World Nineball Tour organised by the World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation.

A brief history of the World Nineball Pool Championship

The WPA World Nineball Pool Championship was first held in 1990 in Germany and won by American Earl Strickland who successfully defended the title on home soil the following year. Strickland claimed a third crown in 2002 and he remains as the event’s most decorated champion. Only four other players have multiple titles to their names (two wins each).

A total of 26 players representing 13 different nations have won the World Nineball Pool Championship. The reigning and defending champion is Francisco Sanchez Ruiz; the Spaniard defeated Mohammad Soufi (Syria) in the final of last year’s staging.

The tournament has gone through many different formats and set-ups down the years with iterations in Europe, the USA and the Far East. Between 2010 to 2019, the Championship was played in Qatar; since Matchroom re-hosted the event in 2021 it was staged in Milton Keynes, England (2021,22) and Kielce, Poland (2023).

Who is playing in the 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship and what is the format?

This year’s Championship is set to feature 128 players. The field of competitors is made up of:

The top 100 players from the World Nineball Tour rankings

10 Saudi national team players

3 Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation wildcards

15 international wildcards

The 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship tournament format consists of two different phases - double elimination followed by straight knockout.

The double elimination phase involves all 128 players. Each player has ‘two lives’ and they need to win two matches to qualify for the last 64 where the competition goes into straight knockout mode for the remaining duration.

All matches in the double elimination phase are races to nine racks.

Matches from the last 64 up to and including the semi-finals are races to 11 racks.

The final is a race to 15 racks.

What is the prize money for the 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship?

There is unprecedented world championship prize money on offer in Jeddah, with a total prize fund of $1,000,000. This is over three times the total pot of last year’s event ($325,000).

The champion on June 8 will bank $250,000; this is more than four times what Sanchez Ruiz won in 2023 ($60,000).

Prize money breakdown for the 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship:

• Champion: $250,000
• Runner-up: $100,000
• Semi-finalists: $50,000 each
• Quarter-finalists: $27,000 each
• Last 16: $15,000 each
• Last 32: $7,000 each
• Last 64: $3,500 each
• Losers qualification round: $2,000 each
• Players placed 97-128: $1,000 each
• Highest break and run: $2,000

How to watch the 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship

A list of broadcasters in various countries and regions is below:

• UK & Ireland: Sky Sports
• Saudi Arabia: SSC 4, Shahid VIP Sports
• Middle East, Northern Africa: MENA
• USA: DAZN
• Hungary: AMC Network
• Australia: Fox Sports
• Russia and CIS territories: Match TV
• Indonesia: MMC
• Czech Republic, Slovakia: Nova
• Philippines: Premier
• New Zealand: Sky Network
• Taiwan: Sportscast
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia: Sportklub
• Singapore: Starhub
• Sub Sahara Africa: Supersport
• Baltics, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Poland, Iceland: Viaplay
• Vietnam: VCT
• Online service Matchroom.live will be showing the event to territories not listed above

The draw, schedule and results for the 2024 World Nineball Pool Championship can be viewed on WNT Live Scores here.