# WPA World Nine-ball Championship

The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport, who provide the event's official website branded as World Pool Championship. The championship is divided into men's, women's and wheelchair divisions.

## History

In the summer of 1989, the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) began plans for a world championship tournament. The group sent invitations, rules, sports regulations and by-laws. Reception was positive, and a provisional Board was created.
In March 1990, the inaugural WPA World Nine-ball Championship was held in Bergheim, Germany. The playing field included 32 men and 16 women in separate divisions, and has since become an annual event. The event was organised solely by the WPA from this inauguration through 1999.
In July 1999, Matchroom Sport attempted to get involved with the organisation of the event, but their bid failed. The WPA event was played in Alicante, Spain, and won by Nick Varner of the United States. Broadcast on ESPN, it was the first pro nine-ball championship to be televised. Matchroom Sport, meanwhile, instead organised tournament called the "World Professional Pool Championship", a competing and non-WPA-sanctioned event in Cardiff, Wales, which was won by Efren Reyes of the Philippines.
In 2000, Matchroom and the WPA agreed that tournaments would merge into a single official world championship. The WPA also agreed to recognise the results of the 1999 Matchroom event, meaning that official listings show both Varner and Reyes as 1999 world champions. Matchroom changed its promotional name for the event to the "World Pool Championship", dropping the word "professional" from the title. The event remained in Cardiff through 2003.
In 2001, the number of competitors in the men's division was increased to 128 and a men's division first prize raised to $65,000.
The 2004 and 2005 events were held in Taiwan, with a men's division first prize of $75,000 as of 2004. The 2005 tournament saw two rules changes: last 64 and last 32 matches were extended to race-to-10 format, and the pockets on the tables were narrowed, to make the game more difficult.
In the 2006 event, the Philippines became the host country for two years. All matches became alternating-break all the way from the group stages to the finals. Men's division first prize escalated to $100,000. In 2007, the event ran from November 3–11, and Daryl Peach of the England was the victor. Because of the global late-2000s recession the championship did not reappear on the calendar in 2008. For some time neither Matchroom nor the WPA released any predictions regarding its reinstatement, and no 2009 event was held, either.
After a two-year hiatus, the tournament returned as the 2010 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Doha, Qatar. Francisco Bustamante of the Philippines won the 2010 title. The event was then held annually in Doha through 2019. After not being contested in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the championship resumed in 2021 in Milton Keynes, England. The 2022 edition is scheduled for April 6–10 in Milton Keynes.

## Winners

| Year | Dates | Location | Winner | Runner-up | Final score |
| 1990 | March 3-7 | Bergheim, Germany | Earl Strickland | Jeff Carter | 3–1 (sets) |
| 1991 | May 29 – June 5 | Las Vegas, United States | Earl Strickland (2) | Nick Varner | 9–7 |
| 1992 | April 1-5 | Taipei, Taiwan | Johnny Archer | Bobby Hunter | 13–12 |
| 1993 | December 7-12 | Königswinter, Germany | Chao Fong-pang | Thomas Hasch | 2–0 (sets) |
| 1994 | November 2-6 | Chicago, United States | Takeshi Okumura | Yasunari Itsuzaki | 9–6 |
| 1995 | November 15-19 | Taipei, Taiwan | Oliver Ortmann | Dallas West | 11–9 |
| 1996 | October 23-27 | Borlänge, Sweden | Ralf Souquet | Tom Storm | 11–1 |
| 1997 | October 1–5 | Chicago, United States | Johnny Archer (2) | Lee Kun-fang | 9–3 |
| 1998 | November 11–15 | Taipei, Taiwan | Kunihiko Takahashi | Johnny Archer | 13–3 |
| 1999 | July 18–26 | Cardiff, Wales | Efren Reyes | Chang Hao-ping | 17–8 |
| 1999 | December 5–12 | Alicante, Spain | Nick Varner | Jeremy Jones | 13–8 |
| 2000 | July 1–9 | Cardiff, Wales | Chao Fong-pang (2) | Ismael Paez | 17–6 |
| 2001 | July 14–22 | Cardiff, Wales | Mika Immonen | Ralf Souquet | 17–10 |
| 2002 | July 13–21 | Cardiff, Wales | Earl Strickland (3) | Francisco Bustamante | 17–15 |
| 2003 | July 12–20 | Cardiff, Wales | Thorsten Hohmann | Alex Pagulayan | 17–10 |
| 2004 | July 10–18 | Taipei, Taiwan | Alex Pagulayan | Chang Pei-wei | 17–13 |
| 2005 | July 2–10 | Kaohsiung, Taiwan | Wu Jiaqing | Kuo Po-cheng | 17–16 |
| 2006 | November 4–12 | Pasay, Philippines | Ronnie Alcano | Ralf Souquet | 17–11 |
| 2007 | November 3–11 | Quezon City, Philippines | Daryl Peach | Roberto Gomez | 17–15 |
| 2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 |
| 2009 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 | Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 |
| 2010 | June 29 – July 5 | Doha, Qatar | Francisco Bustamante | Kuo Po-cheng | 13–7 |
| 2011 | June 25 – July 1 | Doha, Qatar | Yukio Akakariyama | Ronnie Alcano | 13–11 |
| 2012 | June 22–29 | Doha, Qatar | Darren Appleton | Li Hewen | 13–12 |
| 2013 | September 2–13 | Doha, Qatar | Thorsten Hohmann (2) | Antonio Gabica | 13–7 |
| 2014 | June 16–27 | Doha, Qatar | Niels Feijen | Albin Ouschan | 13–10 |
| 2015 | September 7–18 | Doha, Qatar | Ko Pin-yi | Shane Van Boening | 13–11 |
| 2016 | August 1–4 | Doha, Qatar | Albin Ouschan | Shane Van Boening | 13–6 |
| 2017 | December 5–14 | Doha, Qatar | Carlo Biado | Roland Garcia | 13–5 |
| 2018 | December 10–20 | Doha, Qatar | Joshua Filler | Carlo Biado | 13–10 |
| 2019 | December 13–17 | Doha, Qatar | Fedor Gorst | Chang Jung-lin | 13–11 |
| 2020 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | June 6–10 | Milton Keynes, England | Albin Ouschan (2) | Omar Al-Shaheen | 13–9 |
| 2022 | April 6–10 | Milton Keynes, England | Shane Van Boening | Albin Ouschan | 13–6 |
| 2023 | February 1–5 | Kielce, Poland | Francisco Sanchez Ruiz | Mohammad Soufi | 13–10 |
| 2024 | June 3–8 | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | Fedor Gorst (2) | Eklent Kaçi | 15–14 |

### Records

* Earl Strickland holds the record for winning the WPA World Nine-ball Championship the most times: three. (1990, 1991, 2002).
* Earl Strickland holds the record for the most consecutive wins: two. (1990, 1991).
* Albin Ouschan holds the record for the most final appearances: four. (2014, 2016, 2021, 2022).
* The oldest pool player to ever win the tournament to date is Nick Varner of the United States, at 51 years old at the time of his victory, The youngest is Wu Jiaqing of Chinese Taipei, aged 16 years old at the time of his victory.

## Top performers

| Name | Nationality | Winner | Runner-up | Finals | Semi-final or better | Final stage appearances |
| Earl Strickland | United States | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Albin Ouschan | Austria | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Johnny Archer | United States | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| Chao Fong-pang | Chinese Taipei | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Thorsten Hohmann | Germany | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Fedor Gorst | United States | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ralf Souquet | Germany | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
| Shane Van Boening | United States | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Alex Pagulayan | Canada | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Francisco Bustamante | Philippines | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Carlo Biado | Philippines | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Nick Varner | United States | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Ronnie Alcano | Philippines | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Efren Reyes | Philippines | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Takeshi Okumura | Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Wu Jiaqing | China | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Ko Pin-yi | Chinese Taipei | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Mika Immonen | Finland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Oliver Ortmann | Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Kunihiko Takahashi | Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Niels Feijen | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Darren Appleton | England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Joshua Filler | Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Daryl Peach | England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Francisco Sanchez Ruiz | Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Yukio Akakariyama | Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kuo Po-cheng | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Lee Kun-fang | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Eklent Kaci | Albania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Tom Storm | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Chang Jung-lin | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dallas West | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Jeremy Jones | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Antonio Gabica | Philippines | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Omar Al-Shaheen | Kuwait | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Chang Hao-ping | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mohammad Soufi | Syria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Li Hewen | China | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Roberto Gomez | Philippines | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Bobby Hunter | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Chang Pei-wei | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ismael Paez | Mexico | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Jeff Carter | United States | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Roland Garcia | Philippines | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Thomas Hasch | Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yasunari Itsuzaki | Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
* Active participants are shown in bold.
* Only players who reached the final are included.
* Final stage appearances relates to players who reach the last 16 players of the event.
* In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.