Professional world champions in eight-ball pool and its variations include:
This section lists world champions in the internationally standardized game ("American-style") of eight-ball, as played by professionals around the world. This is played on the 9-foot pool tables with colored, numbered balls.
The following is a list of WPA world eight-ball champions sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).
The following is a list of WPA World Heyball champions, Chinese variant of eight-ball pool played on a 9-foot snooker table, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). [7]
| Year | Location | Winner | Nationality | Runner-up | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | China | Xui Lin |  China | Jack Whelan |  England |
| Waratthanun Sukritthanes |  Thailand | Diana Khodjaeva |  Belgium | ||
| 2019 | Zheng Yubo (2) | China | Zhao Ruliang | China | |
| Chen Siming (2) | China | Wang Ye | China | ||
| 2018 | Zheng Yubo | China | Chris Melling | England | |
| Han Yu | China | Liu Shasha | China | ||
| 2017 | Fan Yang | China | Bing Jie Chu [8] | China | |
| Fu Xiaofang | China | Jin Peng Yu | China | ||
| 2016 | Shi Hanqing | China | Mick Hill [9] | England | |
| Chen Siming | China | Kelly Fisher | England | ||
| 2015 | Darren Appleton | England | Mark Selby [10] | England | |
| Bai Ge | China | Zhang Xiaotong | China |
This section lists world champions in British-style eight-ball, which exists in a few slight-variant versions (usually referred to as blackball and eightball pool) with different governing bodies. This version is played at the amateur and semi-professional levels in Commonwealth countries and a few continental European nations. These tournaments are played on 7-foot pool tables with colored balls—typically red and yellow—instead of the solid and striped balls of American-style pool, though both game types feature a black 8 ball .
The following is a list of WPA world blackball champions, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The blackball rules variant was first discussed by the WPA in a unification meeting in 2004, with rules ratified in 2005 in anticipation of blackball's first world championship in 2006. [11] Blackball International, the governing body for blackball pool, was officially formed in August 2008 to unify and administer the sport globally.
† The official BI event in 2022 was held in Tangier, Morocco. [16]
‡ This was an unofficial event held by the French Billiards Federation.
The following is a list of WEPF world eightball champions, sanctioned by the World Eightball Pool Federation. It was held for 22 consecutive years in Blackpool, England, then in 2022 for the first time was held in Killarney, Ireland. The WEPF rules were introduced in 1998 then modified for professional play in 2022.
The following is a list of IPA world blackball champions, sanctioned by the International Professional Pool Association. [37] The IPA events use the WPA blackball rules.
| Date | Location | Winner | Nationality | Runner-up | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 [38] | Bradford, England | Gareth Hibbott (2) | England | Jake-Dylan Newlove | England |
| Keira Whitcombe |  Wales | Rhiannon Graham | England | ||
| 2022 | Liam Dunster |  Scotland | Gareth Hibbott | England | |
| Harriet Haynes | England | Deb Burchell | England | ||
| 2020 | Jon McAllister | England | Aaron Davies | England | |
| Amy Beauchamp [39] | England | Emma Cunningham |  Northern Ireland | ||
| 2019 | Marc Farnsworth | England | Tom Cousins | Wales | |
| Emma Cunningham [40] | Northern Ireland | Kerry Griffiths | England | ||
| 2018 | Ben Davies | Wales | Simon Ward | Wales | |
| Michelle Roonay [41] | Northern Ireland | Collette Henriksen | Northern Ireland | ||
| 2017 | Craig Marsh | Wales | Simon Fitzsimmons | England | |
| Collette Henriksen [42] | Northern Ireland | Leanne Evans | Wales | ||
| 2016 [43] [44] | Gareth Hibbott (1) | England | Craig Marsh | Wales | |
| Deb Burchell (2) | England | Shona Lucas | Scotland | ||
| 2015 [45] | Jack Whelan | England | Jason Twist | England | |
| Deb Burchell | England | Shona Lucas | Scotland | ||
| 2014 [46] | Gareth Potts | England | Clint I'Anson | England |
The following is a list of PPPO world eightball champions, sanctioned by the Professional Pool Players Organisation. The final championship was held in 2005, and the PPPO eventually disbanded as pool players moved on to WPA (2006) and IPA blackball.
| Date | Location | Winner | Nationality | Runner-up | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 [47] | Bridlington, England | Ben Davies | Wales | Derek Murphy | Scotland |
| 2004 [48] | Andy Lucas (2) | England | Rob Hill | England | |
| 2003 [49] | Rob Hill | England | Antz Morrison | Scotland | |
| 2002 [50] | Lerwick, Scotland | Steve Sanders | England | Andy Lucas | England |
| 2001 | Morecambe, England | Ross McInnes (4) | Scotland | Rob Chambers | England |
| 2000 | Bridlington, England | Ross McInnes (3) | Scotland | Steve Sanders | England |
| 1999 | Morecambe, England | Andy Lucas | Scotland | Ronan McCarthy | Northern Ireland |
| 1998 | Ross McInnes (2) | Scotland | Steve Sanders | England | |
| 1997 | Kevin Treanor | Scotland | Ronan McCarthy | Northern Ireland | |
| 1996 | Ross McInnes | Scotland | Mark White | England |
Eight-ball is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls. The object balls include seven solid-colored balls numbered 1 through 7, seven striped balls numbered 9 through 15, and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered with a break shot, a player is assigned either the group of solid or striped balls once they have legally pocketed a ball from that group. The object of the game is to legally pocket the 8-ball in a "called" pocket, which can only be done after all of the balls from a player's assigned group have been cleared from the table.
Nine-ball is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, players must strike the white cue ball to pocket nine colored billiard balls, hitting them in ascending numerical order. An individual game is won by the player pocketing the 9 ball. Matches are usually played as a race to a set number of racks, with the player who reaches the set number winning the match.
Pool is the name given to a series of cue sports played on a billiard table. The table has six pockets along the rails, into which balls are shot. Of the many different pool games, the most popular include: eight-ball, blackball, nine-ball, ten-ball, seven-ball, straight pool, one-pocket, and bank pool. Eight-ball is the most frequently played discipline of pool, and it is often thought of as synonymous with "pool".
Lynette Horsburgh is a Scottish-English semi-professional, world champion pool and national champion snooker player, as well as an international-class player of English billiards. In sport, she represents Scotland. Outside sport, she is a professional Web content producer and journalist at BBC News Online.
The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) is the international governing body for pool. It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Australia, Americas, Africa, and Europe. As of 2023, the WPA president is Ishaun Singh of South Africa. It is an associate of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS), the international umbrella organization that encompasses the major cue sports. WPA is headquartered in Gauteng, South Africa.
Pat Holtz is a Scottish professional pool player.
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.
The World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) is an international pool governing body overseeing international tournaments and rankings in the British-originating variant of eight-ball pool played with red and yellow unnumbered balls instead of the stripes and solids numbered balls. WEPF competes for authority and membership with the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), which oversees its own tournaments and slightly different rules under the name blackball. WEPF events are held principally in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations.
The English-originating version of eight-ball pool, also known as English pool, English eight-ball, blackball, or simply reds and yellows, is a pool game played with sixteen balls on a small pool table with six pockets. It originated in the United Kingdom and is played in the Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa. In the UK and Ireland it is usually called simply "pool".
Oliver Ortmann is a German professional pool player from Gelsenkirchen. Ortmann is a three-time world champion, winning the 1995 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the 2007 and 2010 World Straight Pool Championship. Ortmann became the second player to win three WPA world championships. With fourteen wins, he the second most successful player at the European Pool Championships. Ortmann is also the second most successful player on the Euro Tour, winning fourteen events. Ortmann was the first non-American player to win the BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship, in 1989.
The WPA World Eight-ball Championship is a professional eight-ball pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), initially contested from 2004 to 2012 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. After not being held for several years, it was announced by the WPA that the championship would return in 2017, to be held at the Olympic Centre in Jinan, China. However, that event did not occur, and the championship continued to remain dormant until Predator Cues re-established the tournament as part of their Pro Billiard Series, beginning with the 2022 edition of the tournament.
Christopher Melling is an English professional pool and snooker player from Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire. He is a former world number 1 at World Rules British Eight-Ball. He won the WEPF World Eightball Championship twice, in 2001 and 2003. He was ranked #1 in 2003 by the World Eightball Pool Federation. Melling has also twice won the International Pool Masters and the European Professional title (2002). He was the first player to win two International Tour events back to back. His entrance by walk-on music is from the song “Wannabe” by Spice Girls. Melling is also the only cue sports player to hold professional status in English 8 ball, American pool and snooker.
Gareth David Potts is an English pool player, nicknamed "the Golden Boy". He is a two-time amateur and four-time professional world champion in British-style eightball/blackball, a co-champion in that discipline's pairs (doubles) event, and a three-time champion of a leading Chinese eight-ball competition.
Michael Hill, commonly known as Mick Hill, is an English pool player. He was WEPF men's world champion of British eight-ball pool in 2004, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, the first person to win it six times. Frequently described as a genius by his peers, he is one of the most successful players of the sport in his generation.
The Australian Eight Ball Federation, formed in 1983 is the governing body in Australia for the sport of eight-ball pool, a cue sport also standardised under the name blackball, and distinct from the American-style game of eight-ball, itself subject to international competition.
Eightball Tasmania, formed in 1983 is the governing body in Tasmania, Australia for the sport of Eightball pool, a cue sport.
Chang Jung-lin is a Taiwanese professional Eight-ball and Nine-ball pool player.
The WEPF World Eightball Pool Championship is a pool world championship organised by the World Eightball Pool Federation using International Rules. Until 2022 the competition used World Rules. The competition has taken place annually since 1993.
The year of 2019 included professional tournaments surrounding table-top cue sports. These events include snooker, pool disciplines and billiards. Whilst these are traditionally singles sports, some matches and tournaments are held as doubles, or team events. The snooker season runs between May and April, whilst the pool and billiards seasons run in the calendar year.
Susan Thompson, usually known professionally as Sue Thompson, is a Scottish former professional pool player. She won the WEPF World Eightball Championship eleven times.
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 Cue sportsportal The rules of games in italics are standardized by international sanctioning bodies. | ||
