News

As we move into December and approach Christmas and head towards the end of 2025, it’s a good time to look back and reflect on another tremendous year for the EBSA and European Snooker and also look ahead to 2026 and all that has to offer going forward.

With Turkiye and Albania our magnificent hosts in 2025 we look forward to an historic moment for Spanish Snooker in March 26 when for the very first time a European Championships will be held in Espania in Gandia.

But first let,s travel back to last March when the European Championships were held in Turkiye in the beautiful area near Antalya where four European Titles were up for grabs and a certain 14 year old from Poland would stun the Snooker world.

Michal Szubarczyk would lift the European U16 and U18 Titles plus make it to the Men’s Final and secure an invitation from World Snooker to join the Main Tour and become the youngest professional player in the current tour. It was an example of a remarkable talent and a fantastic story for Polish Snooker.

The U21 Championship also produced a very popular winner as Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko won the championship on a deciding frame to secure the valuable U21 European Tile and also a place on the Main Tour.

After coming so close on so many occasions Turkiye was the Championship that this hugely talented Ukrainian would never forget.

The Men’s Title was won by England’s Liam Highfield who had already gained his Main Tour Card by winning in the Q-Tour Playoff’s, but Liam loved the title of European Champion and played brilliant snooker throughout.

So all in all a fantastic European Championships and again the EBSA would sincerly like to thank Dr Muhammed Leysi and the Turkiye Bilardo Federasyonu for their wonderful support in hosting the Championships.

Also again the EBSA played hosts to Q-Tour and their end of season playoff’s which we all enjoyed very much and it will be part of the European Championships in Gandia, Spain.

What made it very special in Turkiye was the success story of Florian Nüßle the defending European 6 Reds Champion was one of the winners of the Q-Tour event and the Austrian was a very popular winner indeed.

NEXT UP Albania.

October in Albania in Golem saw some really brilliant snooker especially from England’s Craig Steadman who really was the King of Europe, securing the European, 6 Red’s, Senior Singles and the 2025 European Shootout title, a fantastic Hat-Trick securing his name into European Snooker History.

The Ladies title went to Latvia as Anna Prysazhnuka who came to Albania as the runner up from Portugal where she lost out to England’s Rebecca Kenna. The Latvian Champion was determined to re-capture the European Title.

She prevailed with the win regaining the title she held two years previous.

You cant keep a great player down for long and Kenna was back with her team mate Ellise Scott to lift the European Womens Team Title with an exciting deciding frame victory over France.

There was a very emotional win in the Seniors Team Championship as Belgium lifted the European Title when Alain Vandersteen and Peter Bullen where emphatic in their victory over England in the decider.

The European Champions clearly dedicated this victory to Pascal Tollenaere who sadly passed away.

The last event was the Men’s Team Championship where Ukraine were crowned European Champions as Anton Kazakov and Mykhailo Larkov overcame a gallant Malta team to lift Gold.

These two young players have been around European Snooker since a very young age and there is no doubt that the duo are brimming with talent and both have bright futures in the game.

Also in Golem the EBSA European Disability Championships were held for the second time following the inaugural event in Portugal 12 Months earlier and again the event was sensational and showed incredible talent.

Such a wonderful event with all the information of the WDBS Website, winners of the different catagories and our thanks to Nigel Mawer and everyone involed in these very enjoyable and skillfull Championships.

A very special word of thanks to Ogert Shkrepa, Dorjan Maknori and everyone at the Albanian Snooker Federation for their help and hard work during the European Championships.

So, as the year comes to an end a couple of very important moments to look back on. The EBSA European Coach PJ Nolan always delivers fantastic coaching and advice in all aspects of the game and in Albania again PJ produced a stunning coaching and new EBSA Coaches for the future.

The Annual General Meeting was a great success with many Nations represented and two very special guests invited by the EBSA president to Albania.

The Chairman of World Snooker Jason Ferguson and the President of the IBSF Mubarak Al-Khayarin were at the EBSA AGM and it was nice to have everyone together once more.

VIVA GANDIA!

Now we look forward to the next chapter of European Snooker in March 2026 when all roads lead to Gandia in Spain.

This is a first for Spanish Snooker to host a European Championships in a country where the game is growing all the time. The location is beautiful, the people are fantastic and everyone is looking forward to the trip to the Provence of Valencia.

Ana Maria Meneses Vilalta with Rafael Argente were in Albania to officially present the setting for the upcoming 2026 European Championships in Spain which will host the Under 16, 18, 21 and Men’s European Championships along with the next EBSA AGM.

The Championships in Gandia will run from March 1st until March 14 and from the 15th until the 17th will be the Q-Tour Playoff Championships 2026.

These Championships and for many European Championships to come will be played on XingPai Championship Tables following a fantastic new sponsorship agreement with the EBSA.

The EBSA want to sincerly thank all of it supporters, partners and sponsors for their excellent support in the past, present and future.

Finally as Christmas approaches it can be a joyus ocassion and also a very sad time of year for many and at this time of year we want to wish everyone a very peaceful and happy Christmas and a great 2026, but for those who have passed on, we want to always have them in our thoughts and our memories.

From EBSA President and the whole EBSA Executive and Team we look forward to seeing you all very soon in Spain.