Declan Brennan goes one better to win maiden World 8-Ball Pool Championship title

Twelve months on from heartbreak when losing to Giuseppe D'Imperio in the final, 33-year-old Brennan went one step further to claim the most prestigious accolade in small table 8-ball pool.

Brennan becomes the second Northern Irishman to wear the crown, following in the footsteps of close friend Ronan McCarthy who claimed the title in 2022 and 2024.

For only the second time in their 33-year history, the IEPF’s annual flagship Championships were held outside of the UK and Ireland with the Aqua Mirage Resort in Marrakesh, Morocco hosting the 11-day spectacular. The Championships feature a packed programme with team, doubles and singles events across various divisions.

How Declan Brennan won the world 8-ball pool title

As the tournament’s number two seed, Brennan avoided the rigmarole of the qualifying rounds, starting his campaign in the last 64 where he defeated Theo Schneider (France) 8-2 before ousting Johan Attard (Malta) 8-7 in the last 32.

‘The Destroyer’ then eliminated host nation opposition in Morocco’s Amine Amiri, 8-3, and Houssam El Amrani, 9-3, to set up a semi-final meeting with Shaun Sharkey (Republic of Ireland) against whom he saw off, 10-4, for back-to-back final berths in successive years.

A fairy tale developed on the other side of the draw as Morocco’s Abderrahmane Chorfy became the first-ever player from Africa to reach the final.

Chorfy navigated all four rounds of qualifying to make the main draw where he denied the 2023 champion Clayton Castaldi (Malta) in the last 64.

Having pipped Ben Doyle (Republic of Ireland), 8-7, in the round of 32, Chorfy survived another deciding frame finish in the semi-finals as he dramatically dethroned defending champion D’Imperio (England), 10-9.

The story of the 2026 IEPF World Men’s 8-Ball Pool Final

In the final, Brennan established a 2-0 lead before Chorfy got on the scoreboard with a reverse clearance after his opponent went in-off on his break shot.

Brennan followed the exact same suit in frame four, but Chorfy levelled after a reverse clearance and break clearance sequence for 3-3.

However, it was during the middle part of the contest when recent Ultimate Pool professional number one ranked player Brennan pulled rank, stringing together five consecutive frames to take control with an 8-3 lead.

Home hero Chorfy stopped the rot by depositing the 12th and then reverse clearing in the 13th for 8-5, he then had the chance to apply further pressure by break dishing in the 14th but missed a yellow. Brennan pounced and punished to clear for 9-5.

A break clearance in frame 15 put the Mayobridge cueman on the hill, and when his opponent broke dry in the next, Brennan converted the first opportunity he faced to win his maiden world singles title, reverse clearing for an 11-5 victory.

Brennan joins an illustrious roll of honour that includes all-time greats of the sport such as six-times winner Mick Hill, three-time champion Gareth Potts, and multiple-time conquerors Rob McKenna, Jason Twist, and Chris Melling. Four-time World Snooker Champion Mark Selby also won this title in 2006 before the first of his Crucible triumphs in 2014.

In the women’s championship, England’s Barbara Taylor completed a hat-trick of title glories as she defeated then-reigning champion Emma Cunningham (Northern Ireland), 8-5, in the final.

Number three seed Taylor - who also claimed this world crown in 2018 and 2022 - ended the challenges of opponents from the Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Scotland, Australia and France to reach the final for a fifth time.