When we say Antwerp, we actually mean Lier. The small and beautiful city of Lier leans against the Belgian metropolis, which has traditionally been a hotbed of billiards. Both Lier and Antwerp have a history in which one name keeps popping up: Ceulemans. And for good reason: Raymond is the granddaddy of all things billiards, son Kurt is the event’s organizer, and grandson Peter is one of the dark horses in the race for the title.
The Lier World Cup (31 Aug – 6 Sept) will be the fifth in the 2026 cycle, following Bogota, Ankara, Ho Chi Minh and Porto. The winners so far? Myung Woo Cho, Caudron, Myung Woo Cho again, and Merckx.
The UMB has seeded the following players for
Lier : M.W. Cho, Jaspers, Merckx, Zanetti, Caudron, Tasdemir, Horn, T.L. Tran, Sidhom, B. Karakurt, Bury, Q.C. Tran, J.H. Heo, Hofman.
The local wildcards went to Peter Ceulemans and Roland Forthomme, the CEB/UMB wildcard went to Hong Chiem Thai.
The tables are Gabriels, the balls are Aramith Prestige, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige. The usual ranking points are at stake: 80 – 54 – 36 – 26 – 18 – 10 – 8.
Frédéric Caudron won two of his four world titles in Antwerp, so it is fair to say that he does well on his home turf. Or can Myung Woo Cho get even more dominant in the 2026 season? As much as a dozen very strong players will seek a different outcome, we are sure.
As usual, all matches can be watched on Soop. Full match results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.