Hailed as “a benchmark” for the global game of professional pool, Matchroom Pool has launched the World Nineball Tour with a minimum of 40 ranking events and a prize fund of at least US$3m.
Matchroom is looking to emulate the model that has seen the growth of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and the World Snooker Tour, both of which have more than £15m in prize money for the forthcoming season. The World Nineball Tour will “accelerate at pace” to provide a “commercial platform for professional pool and change players’ lives”.
In 2023, ten major events will form the backbone of the pool calendar promoted by Matchroom with a new signature 256-player field Spanish Open Pool Championship recently announced as part of a wider partnership in Spain. Similarly, the Southeast Asia territory will shortly announce a host of new events aligned to the World Nineball Tour.
Pool’s ‘big chance’: reactions to the tour
Barry Hearn, president and founder of Matchroom Sport: “This is a time of opportunity for all players around the world irrespective of gender, nationality, age, and faith. It’s also a time when anyone who truly cares about creating opportunity for players to join in this historic journey. This is pool’s big chance and with the support of all the top players and the dream of all aspiring amateurs, I believe we can create a huge global sport.”
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, world nineball No.1: “The World Nineball Tour gives us all more motivation to succeed. Nineball is the future with the rankings, previously we only had three tournaments now we have so many. Now you can be a professional by playing this game, it’s perfect. The World Nineball Tour means you can qualify for the biggest events and that includes the Mosconi Cup.”
Shane Van Boening, five-time US Open winner and 2022 world champion: “Nineball is the future because we have a lot of events around the world coming thick and fast. It’s a great opportunity to travel the world. More Nineball events means we have the opportunity to make a real career out of this sport. It lets people aspire to become something. It’s important to play in World Nineball Ranking events because there are so many lucrative opportunities now to be a part of the most exclusive invitationals and of course the Mosconi Cup. It’s the most important one on the calendar for me and if you want a shot of playing in that, you need to play the World Nineball Tour calendar.
Joshua Filler, current UK Open and World Pool Masters champion: “It is amazing to see the Tour growing and expanding, especially having in mind what Matchroom have done with other sports, we are for sure looking into a great and bright future of 9-ball. I want to win every big major on the calendar, so I’ll always be super motivated and hungry to put my name on every trophy.”
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