The Ultimate Pool Group is excited to announce plans for its future competition structure that will see the professional ranks expand and be capped at 80 players from the 2023 season onwards.

Ultimate Pool’s new season recently got underway with the live BT Sport televised Pro Cup. This was the first of 11 professional ranking events that will be held throughout the campaign. The 2022 season features a huge increase in entries, and with the support and enthusiasm of the players, the total prize fund across the whole term will be over £500,000.

To cater for this new capacity, all Professional, Challenger and Women’s Series events will take place in hotel venues. In 2022, there are 48 professional players (up from 34 in 2021), 288 challenger players (up from 128 in 2021) and a new innovative Women’s Series that will feature 80 players – this has already been increased due to demand.

Plans for 2023 Onwards

Recognising the future potential of the Ultimate Pool circuit, the organisation has set out a blueprint for a sustainable tour structure in the years to come:

• The 2023 Ultimate Pool professional ranks will expand to 80 players. It is intended that this number will be capped and the ideal number of players on the sport’s top tier moving forwards.

• This increase means that no current professional player will be relegated at the end of the 2022 season.

• There is good news for this season’s Challenger Series, with the top 16 (instead of the previously advertised 8) at the end of the season all gaining automatic promotion to the 2023 professional ranks.

• The top ranked player on the Women’s Series (other than Emma Cunningham) will gain automatic promotion to the 2023 professional ranks. This is the start of a commitment from the Ultimate Pool Group where by at least one women player will feature on the top tier every season.

• The remaining 15 places for the 2023 professional circuit will be wildcards decided by the Ultimate Pool Group.

The Challenger Series

The Ultimate Pool Group is serious about the grassroots side of the sport and wants to provide amateur 8-ball players across the world meaningful and fair competitive opportunities.

The Group has been inundated with requests to join the Challenger Series in 2022 but unfortunately full capacity has already been reached. However, it is exploring ways in which the Challenger circuit could be expanded yet again in 2023 by working with external partners.

For comprehensive information on all the events that the Ultimate Pool Group currently holds, please visit the recently updated tournaments tab here.