EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15

J

jbart65

Well-known member
First major WNT ranking event of the year

Total prize fund: $225,000. Increases from $200,000 in 2025.

Winner: $40,000
Runner up: $16,000
Semifinalists: $10,000
Quaterfinalists: $7,000

Who's in? Filler, Gorst, Eklent, Kaci, FSR, Neuhausen, Labutis, Hoang, Ouschan, Alcaide, Feijin.

Who's out: Shane Van Boening, Aloysius Yapp, Carlo Biado, Johann Chua, Ko Pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung, Jayson Shaw, Mickey Krause, Skyler Woodward

2025 Results

Winner: Joshua Filler. He crushed Naoyuki Oi, 13-1. He also punched his Mosconi ticket with this title.

Runner Up: Naoyuki Oi

Semifinal losers: Daniel Maciol, Pijus Labutis

Quarterfinal losers: Wojciech Szewczyk, Duong Quoc Hoang, Lo Ho Sum, Tobias Bongers

Notable tournament absences in 2025: Fedor Gorst (injury), Skylar Woodward (injury), AJ Manas (visa issues).

https://www.wntlivescores.com/events/european-open-pool-championship-2025/matches-list/2


I'll update the main post once we know more.
 
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It is a very exciting moment in the pool year. Josh, Shane and Fedor all played in each of Derby City and the Las Vegas Open. Yapp played in neither, so it will be nice to have all four of the in the mix again.

Let the games begin!
 
sjm said:
It is a very exciting moment in the pool year. Josh, Shane and Fedor all played in each of Derby City and the Las Vegas Open. Yapp played in neither, so it will be nice to have all four of the in the mix again.

Let the games begin!
Click to expand...

minus fedor
 
sjm said:
It is a very exciting moment in the pool year. Josh, Shane and Fedor all played in each of Derby City and the Las Vegas Open. Yapp played in neither, so it will be nice to have all four of the in the mix again.

Let the games begin!
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Is Shane definitely playing? He's not on the poster.

Didn't he say on Scott Frost's podcast that he won't be travelling overseas for 6 month.
 
SA96 said:
Is Shane definitely playing? He's not on the poster.

Didn't he say on Scott Frost's podcast that he won't be travelling overseas for 6 month.
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He did, but also said other contradictory things. He is going to push it the next few years. Play in and try to win the big majors. Play in all the big WPA events this year, esp the world 10 ball title.

His comment about not traveling came after he was asked about going to Asia and the Philippines this year. Hard to say what he really meant.
 
Playing roster is out and a lot of big names are missing. Might be the weakest field of any big WNT major ever.

NOT PLAYING

Shane Van Boening
Aloysius Yapp
Carlo Biado
Johann Chua
Ko Pin Yi
Ko Ping Chung
Jayson Shaw
Mickey Krause
Skyler Woodward
Tyler Styer
AJ Manas
Albert Januarta


Only a single Filipino was listed: Jepthah Palencia.

Hardly any Polish players either, aside from Viktor.
 
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jbart65 said:
Playing roster is out and a lot of big names are missing. Might be the weakest field of any big WNT major ever.

NOT PLAYING

Shane Van Boening
Aloysius Yapp
Carlo Biado
Johann Chua
Ko Pin Yi
Ko Ping Chung
Jayson Shaw
Mickey Krause
Skyler Woodward
Tyler Styer
AJ Manas
Albert Januarta


Only a single Filipino was listed: Jepthah Palencia.

Hardly any Polish players either, aside from Viktor.
Click to expand...
Yes, disappointing. Manas, Januarta, and Styer are not among the elite (all sub 800 Fargo) so, to me, their absence is a "so what?" Krause showed weak form at Derby City and skipped the Las Vegas Open. The Kos were never expected to be in this field. Still, there are six other noteworthy absences. Four of them played in the Predator Las Vegas Open and are skipping this WNT major (SVB, Biado, Shaw, and Woodward). I don't think it will sit well with Emily, but hopefully, none of them will face the kind of persecution normally reserved by Matchroom for Filler.

It still looks like a fine event, but as you note, it could have been and should have been better.

The weakest ever field at a WNT major was, actually, at the very last one that was played, namely the 2025 Philippines Open, in which five sixths of the field was Asian.

Finally, any WNT event in which Filler and Gorst both participate will always capture my fullest attention. As long as WNT is going to regularly feature the two best players in the world, it will always make for great viewing.
 
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jbart65 said:
Playing roster is out and a lot of big names are missing. Might be the weakest field of any big WNT major ever.

NOT PLAYING

Shane Van Boening
Aloysius Yapp
Carlo Biado
Johann Chua
Ko Pin Yi
Ko Ping Chung
Jayson Shaw
Mickey Krause
Skyler Woodward
Tyler Styer
AJ Manas
Albert Januarta


Only a single Filipino was listed: Jepthah Palencia.

Hardly any Polish players either, aside from Viktor.
Click to expand...

Where did you get this list from?

There's nothing on Matchroom's website.
 
skip100 said:
No surprise the Southeast Asian players don’t want to deal with unnecessary international travel right now.
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Yes, but Yapp just went to Florida for the PLP, in which the winner made $25,000. Why did he go to Florida OK but not Europe, where he'd be one of the favorites to win the $40,000 first prize? Biado had no problem traveling to the Las Vegas Open, but Europe is more travel than he can handle? It does not add up for me.
 
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sjm said:
Yes, disappointing. Manas, Januarta, and Styer are not among the elite (all sub 800 Fargo) so, to me, their absence is a "so what?"
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Sure, I get it. You would just think the youngsters Manas and Januarta would want establish themselves.

sjm said:
Krause showed weak form at Derby City and skipped the Las Vegas Open.
Click to expand...
Krause played at the Pattaya Open and looked pretty good. Surprised he chose Pattaya when he is a former European Open champ. His girlfriend might be Asian ...

sjm said:
The Kos were never expected to be in this field.
Click to expand...
They were last year, but heyball ...

sjm said:
Still, there are six other noteworthy absences. Four of them played in the Predator Las Vegas Open and are skipping this WNT major (SVB, Biado, Shaw, and Woodward). I don't think it will sit well with Emily, but hopefully, none of them will face the kind of persecution normally reserved by Matchroom for Filler.
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Shaw is the one who surprised me - he's been a WNT stalwart. SVB, less so, after he played at the Predator Vegas event and just finished Griffs.

I don't think MR would do anything, Frazer has talked about this. They can't raise prize money a ton, but they can hold more ranking events around the world so players won't have to travel so much. She suggested players might be more choosy given their own budgets.

sjm said:
It still looks like a fine event, but as you note, it could have been and should have been better.

The weakest ever field at a WNT major was, actually, at the very last one that was played, namely the 2025 Philippines Open, in which five sixths of the field was Asian.
Click to expand...
I didn't really consider the Philippines a true major. Nor the new Yuma event. Mini majors or some such. SVB has missed the Euro Open, Philippines and Hanoi Open
sjm said:
Finally, any WNT event in which Filler and Gorst both participate will always capture my fullest attention. As long as WNT is going to regularly feature the two best players in the world, it will always make for great viewing.
Click to expand...
 
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I think the a few things are going on.

One, travel and lodging is expensive, especially to the West. Many players chose the Predator WPA event in Vegas and are skipping the European Open. There was more money involved and several events to participate in. The European Open is a one-off with less prize money.

Two, busier calendar. Busiest ever this year. Predator and WNT have both added more events. Players have to pick and choose. They can't go to all the big events. Chua, for example, skipped Vegas and the European Open. But he won some nice ranking points by taking the Patttaya tourney not far from home.

Three, more competition from Predator. Most of its events have bigger prize funds, which surprises me. Where are they getting the money? Do MR need to copy them? Are MR's events too big and expensive to run? Should they have smaller fields like Predator?

Four, Matchroom prize funds. They have gotten bigger, but now trail Predator except for the WPC and US Open.

Five, Sarajevo. Maybe players aren't fond of the city or location.
 
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