WITH FIVE TOURNAMENTS yet to be determined among 9-ball and team events, it will take seismic shift to dislodge the German squad from their current position on top of the medal table at the Predator European Pool Championships with two days to go. With three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals, they are some way ahead of their nearest rivals. In fact, it would be Germany’s fifth consecutive medal table victory should things go to plan.
With a battery of super-talented players on tap, National Squad Trainer Ralf Eckert gave some insight into pool in Germany.
He said, “Of course, pool is structured but also, we are a big country and have a lot of people. Billiards is not super-popular; we have the same problem in other countries when we compare ourselves with soccer but of course, we have a long history.
“The game started in the 70's in Germany and we started with all those clubs. We have structure, not only in public pool halls but we also have private pool billiard clubs so you have to be a member and you pay 50/100 euros a month and after a while you usually get a key and then you have 24-hour access. So, if someone is really ambitious and wants to find his goal then he has access and can bring all his time onto the table.
“And then you find in every club a trainer or someone who understands something of the game and usually they help the youth and ambitious players to take the next steps.”
Eckert acknowledges to overall contribution of Günter Geisen, who has worked with many players every step of their careers; ““I have to admire the work of my colleague Günter who's also responsible here. What he does is to take care and observe the national youth squads so from there he can take the best talent into the men's squad and so on. He can really develop them from the youth and take the best of them into the men's squad,” he concluded.
Making his debut at the 2026 Predator European Pool Championships is new EPBF Sports Director Gino De Ruyter, who brings years of experience to the game. He said, “I started off being a player myself when I was very young. I was like 7 years old when I started playing billiards. I ended up playing in the clubs in Holland and that was the reason why I started getting involved in the organisation of events because we were lacking a lot of tournaments in Holland for the regular player.
“So, I picked up organising tournaments and that evolved into working with the Dutch Federation and Belgian Federation and making steps from there on. I think the main goal here is to create the right type of consistency which makes it clear to follow the sport and clear in terms of communication towards the fans and also the players - it's definitely key.
“I do feel that we need to be aware of how the sport needs to evolve; we've seen Predator do a lot of great things over the years looking at maximising the exposure and maybe thinking a little more commercial in some aspects. I think that is something you have to keep in mind when you set up events like this as a sports director, to make it a more attractive sport for the players and also the fans, to really enjoy the sports,” he concluded.
Play continues tomorrow with day two of the three 9-ball events. The men’s last 64 starts at 10.45 while the women resume with the losers’ qualification round. The Under 23 is at losers’ qualification stage.
Tables 1, 2 and 3 at the Predator European Championships will be streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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