From 23-27 September, Blois, France will host the 2026 UMB World Championship 3-cushion. It’s the event of the year, and the only opportunity a 3-cushion player has to be crowned world champion. It’s the one you want to win.
Looking at the honor list of world champions, one statistic just demands attention. It looks to be virtually impossible to successfully defend a world title, even multi-winners like Jaspers, Sanchez and Caudron couldn’t do it. The last person to win it two years in a row was Torbjörn Blomdahl in 1991 and 1992, when the title was contested in a five- or six World Cup series. The last person to win it in two consecutive one-week events was Raymond Ceulemans in 1979 and 1980!
As mentioned, Caudron is the title holder, he won in Antwerp in 2025 in an all-Belgian final against eddy Merckx. Other recent world champions: 2024 Myung Woo Cho, 2023 Phuong Vinh Bao, 2022 Tayfun Tasdemir, 2021 Dick Jaspers.
The championship in Blois will be played in 16 groups of three, two players to advance to the K.O. round. Matches are to 40 points in the group, with equalizing inning. Matches in the K.O. are to 50, without equalizing inning.
The tables in Blois are Predator, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige, and the balls are Aramith Prestige.
These are the groups:
A) Caudron, Romero, Panaia
B) M.W. Cho, Villanueva, D. Morales
C) Merckx, Löwe, Soumagne
D) Sidhom, Abu Tayeh, J.H. Son
E) Horn, Soares, Tellez
F) Zanetti, Abdin, Novak
G) B. Karakurt, Seleventas, van Erp
H) Tasdemir, Forthomme, Itai
I) P.V. Bao, Devogelaere, Cetin
J) Ceulemans, Catano, H.C. Thai
K) Jaspers, Blomdahl, Knudsen
L) T.L. Tran, Kahofer, Munoz
M) H.J. Kim, Piedrabuena, Salazar
N) Hofman, Kiraz, Y.S. Jeong
O) Bury, Legazpi, H.T. Chau
P) J.H. Heo, Q.C. Tran, Y.D. Song
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Full results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.