| Current Season: | 2024 WPA World Nine-ball Championship |
| Pixels: | 200px |
| Sport: | Pool |
| Founded: | 1990 |
| Champion: |  Fedor Gorst |
| Champ Season: | 2024 |
| Related Comps: | Eight-ball, Ten-ball |
| Founder: | World Pool-Billiard Association |
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-Billiard 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.
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.[1]
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.[2]
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.[3]
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.[2]
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.[2] [4]
The 2004 and 2005 events were held in Taiwan, with a men's division first prize of $75,000 as of 2004.[2] The 2005 tournament saw two rules changes: last 64 and last 32 matches were extended to format, and the on the tables were narrowed, to make the game more difficult.[5]
In the 2006 event, the Philippines became the host country for two years. All matches became alternating- 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.[6]
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.[7] The event was then held annually in Doha through 2019.[8] 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.[9]
See main article: List of WPA World Nine-ball champions.
| 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 | 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 | Lee Kun-fang | 9–3 | ||
| 1998 | November 11–15 | Taipei, Taiwan | Kunihiko Takahashi | Johnny Archer | 13–3 | |
| July 18–26 | Cardiff, Wales | Efren Reyes | Chang Hao-ping | 17–8 | ||
| December 5–12 | Alicante, Spain | Nick Varner | Jeremy Jones | 13–8 | ||
| 2000 | July 1–9 | Cardiff, Wales |  Ismael Paez | 17–6 | ||
| 2001 | July 14–22 |  Mika Immonen | Ralf Souquet | 17–10 | ||
| 2002 | July 13–21 | Francisco Bustamante | 17–15 | |||
| 2003 | July 12–20 | 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 | |||||
| 2009 | ||||||
| 2010 | June 29 – July 5 | Doha, Qatar | 13–7 | |||
| 2011 | June 25 – July 1 | Yukio Akakariyama | 13–11 | |||
| 2012 | June 22–29 | Darren Appleton |  Li Hewen | 13–12 | ||
| 2013 | September 2–13 | Antonio Gabica | 13–7 | |||
| 2014 | June 16–27 | Niels Feijen |  Albin Ouschan | 13–10 | ||
| 2015 | September 7–18 | Ko Pin-yi | Shane Van Boening | 13–11 | ||
| 2016 | August 1–4 | Albin Ouschan | Shane Van Boening | 13–6 | ||
| 2017 | December 5–14 | Carlo Biado | Roland Garcia | 13–5 | ||
| 2018 | December 10–20 | Joshua Filler | Carlo Biado | 13–10 | ||
| 2019 | December 13–17 |  Fedor Gorst | Chang Jung-lin | 13–11 | ||
| 2020 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| 2021 | June 6–10 | Milton Keynes, England |  Omar Al-Shaheen | 13–9 | ||
| 2022 | April 6–10 | 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 | |
| Name | Nationality | Winner | Runner-up | Finals | or better | appearances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | ||
| Albin Ouschan | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | |
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | |||
| 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 2 | 6 | |||||
| Fedor Gorst | 2 | |||||
| Ralf Souquet | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | |
| Shane Van Boening | 4 | 9 | ||||
| Alex Pagulayan | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | ||
| Carlo Biado | 6 | |||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 0 | 1 | 7 | ||||
| 5 | ||||||
| Ko Pin-yi | 1 | 9 | ||||
| Mika Immonen | ||||||
| 6 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| Joshua Filler | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| Francisco Sanchez Ruiz | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 0 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| 1 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| 1 | 5 | |||||
| 4 | ||||||
| Omar Al-Shaheen | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| Mohammad Soufi | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| Roland Garcia | ||||||
See main article: world championships.