CEB European Three-cushion Championship

Panoramic shot of the venue.

The CEB European Three-cushion Championship is three-cushion billiards tournament organized by the Confédération Européenne de Billard. Held since 1932, it is one of longest-running tournaments in the sport. The 2007 event offered a total purse of €18,500 (US$26,134) with €4,000 ($5,651) for the winner.

Before 1995, there was a third place match played between the two losing finalists, in order to determine the ranking. However, the match has been cancelled since then and the losing finalists are regarded as having the same ranking in the competition.

Since the season 2012/13 the tournament was held in a mammoth event every two years in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany.

History[]

Until the Second World War the European Championships were held only in the disciplines balkline and in three-cushion, and that even more irregular. After the war (1947) a regular, annual cycle was introduced. Exception was the season 1995/96. This had to do with the association disputes between the World Federation Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB) and the Billiards World Cup Association (BWA). It also meant that the players which were under contract with the BWA in the years 1993 to 1997 were not allowed to participate at the European Championship.

In the season 1956/57, there have been already two associations. In the dispute over sports and leadership policies within the "Union Internationale des Fédérations d'Amateurs de Billard" (UIFAB) culminated in the founding of the competing "Fédération Internationale de Billard" (FIB) and a "double" European Championships were held in straight rail, balkline, and three-cushion in 1957. The following year, the disputes were resolved and UIFAB was again the only European federation. This fusion was expressed in the founding/renamed into Confédération Européenne de Billard (CEB) on 12. July 1958.^[1]

Prize money and ranking points[]

^[2]	Prize money (€)	Ranking points
Winner	6,000	80
Runner-up	3,500	54
Semi-finalists	2,000	38
5. – 8.	1,000	26
9. – 16.	600	16
17. – 32.	400	8
P-Quali	–	4
Overall	28,700	–
(current state: 7 February 2013)

Tournament records (timeline)[]

Billiard legend Raymond Ceulemans from Belgium won the tournament more times (23) than any other player. His closest competitors for the record are country fellow and Swedish Torbjörn Blomdahl at a distant 9 and 8 respectively. By delivering the European Champion for 22 consecutive years (1962-1983), Belgium also holds the record for most consecutive wins.

In 2013 Marco Zanetti played a new record General Average (GA) of 2.500. Frédéric Caudron puts up a new European record in High-run of 28 and equalizes the records of Junichi Komori (1993), Raymond Ceulemans (1998), and (2012).

General Average (GA)^[3]
GD	Name	Year
0,717		1932
0,804	Alfred Lagache	1939
0,827		1948
0,890	Alfred Lagache	1949
0,895		1951
1,023		1952
1,190		1954
1,238	Raymond Ceulemans	1963
1,420		1965
1,538	Raymond Ceulemans	1969
1,621	Raymond Ceulemans	1971
1,808	Raymond Ceulemans	1991
2,314	Frédéric Caudron	2001
2,376	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2003
2,500	Marco Zanetti	2013
2,739	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2013

Special Average (SA)^[3]
BED	Name	Year
0,925		1932
		1935
1,041	Alfred Lagache	1939
1,111	Alfred Lagache	1947
1,219		1948
1,219	Alfred Lagache	1949
1,428		1952
1,428		1953
1,515		1954
1,724		1958
1,764	Raymond Ceulemans	1964
1,818	Raymond Ceulemans	1965
2,068	Raymond Ceulemans	1965
2,222	Raymond Ceulemans	1969
2,400		1971
2,875	Raymond Ceulemans	1972
3,000	Tayfun Taşdemir	2002
3,461	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2003
3,461	Frédéric Caudron	2003
5,625	Dick Jaspers	2008

High Run (HR)^[3]
HS	Name	Year
08		1932
09		1939
12	Alfred Lagache	1948
15		1955
15		1960
17	Raymond Ceulemans	1964
20	Raymond Ceulemans	1973
23	Nikos Polychronopoulos	2012
28	Frédéric Caudron	2013

Champions[]

The GA indicates the General Average.^[3]

No.	Year	Venue	Winner	GA	Runner-up	GA	3. Place	GA
01	1932	Amsterdam		0,659		0,717		0,613
02	1935	Amsterdam	Alfred Lagache	0,704		0,686		0,595
03	1939	Angoulême	Alfred Lagache	0,804		0,714		0,574
04	1947	Brussels	Alfred Lagache	0,773		0,756		0,644
05	1948	Madrid	Joaquín Domingo	0,793		0,835		0,718
06	1949	Angoulême	Alfred Lagache	0,890		0,733		0,634
07	1950	Amsterdam		0,584		0,673		0,652
08	1951	Antwerp		0,895	Alfred Lagache	0,640		0,702
09	1952	Lausanne		1,023		0,807		0,731
10	1953	Madrid		1,008		0,796		0,680
11	1954	Mannheim		1,190		0,863		0,877
12	1955	Amsterdam		1,017		0,884		0,813
13	1956	Saarbrücken		0,831		0,784		0,763
14	1957/1^*1	Lisbon		0,677		0,636		0,666
15	1957/2^*1	Antwerp		0,800		0,815		0,638
16	1958	Cannes		0,902		0,863		0,946
17	1959	Hilversum		1,041		0,935		0,854
18	1960	Düsseldorf		1,105		0,992		0,994
19	1961	Trieste		1,000		0,796	Raymond Ceulemans	0,928
20	1962	Kaatsheuvel	Raymond Ceulemans	1,159		1,015		0,890
21	1963	Brussels	Raymond Ceulemans	1,202		1,007		0,952
22	1964	Copenhagen	Raymond Ceulemans	1,197		0,876		0,843
23	1965	Vienna	Raymond Ceulemans	1,160		1,053		0,922
24	1966	Lisbon	Raymond Ceulemans	1,420		0,872		0,801
25	1967	Angoulême	Raymond Ceulemans	1,253		0,971		0,924
26	1968	Madrid	Raymond Ceulemans	1,379		1,125		1,150
27	1969	The Hague	Raymond Ceulemans	1,538		1,174		1,069
28	1970	Tournai	Raymond Ceulemans	1,366		1,010		0,809
29	1971	Geel	Raymond Ceulemans	1,621		1,142		1,041
30	1972	Dortmund	Raymond Ceulemans	1,501		0,907		0,961
31	1973	Crosne		0,940	Ludo Dielis	0,949		0,869
32	1974	Eeklo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,527	Ludo Dielis	1,111		1,019
33	1975	Rotterdam	Raymond Ceulemans	1,406		0,982		1,274
34	1976	Valencia	Raymond Ceulemans	1,563	Ludo Dielis	0,993		1,091
35	1977	Lausanne	Raymond Ceulemans	1,310	Ludo Dielis	1,074		1,016
36	1978	Copenhagen	Raymond Ceulemans	1,476		1,071	Ludo Dielis	1,060
37	1979	Düren	Raymond Ceulemans	1,369		1,059		1,029
38	1980	Helsingborg	Raymond Ceulemans	1,571		0,979		1,113
39	1981	Vienna	Raymond Ceulemans	1,382		0,808		0,773
40	1982	Porto	Raymond Ceulemans	1,365		1,125	Ludo Dielis	1,184
41	1983	Dunkirk	Raymond Ceulemans	1,333	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,104		1,045
42	1984	Leuven		1,193		0,978		1,054
43	1985	Amersfoort	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,327		1,080	Raymond Ceulemans	1,262
44	1986	Mondorf-les-Bains	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,218		1,027		1,084
45	1987	Waalwijk	Raymond Ceulemans	1,411	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,261	Ludo Dielis	1,156
46	1988	Vejle	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,506	Raymond Ceulemans	1,476		1,202
47	1989	Viersen		1,099		1,324	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,225
48	1990	Norrköping	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,435	Dick Jaspers	1,389		1,158
49	1991	Dordrecht	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,772	Dick Jaspers	1,513	Raymond Ceulemans	1,808
55	1992	Cairo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,293		1,232	Marco Zanetti	1,135
51	1993	Corbeil-Essonnes		1,231		0,958		1,213
52	1994	Odense		1,097		0,996		1,231
No.	Year	Venue	Winner	GA	Runner-up	GA	Semifinalists	GA
53	1995	Prague		1,203		1,083		1,151 1,050
54	1997	Mondorf-les-Bains	Daniel Sánchez	1,579		1,311		1,353 1,171
55	1998	Aubagne	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,429		1,378	Dick Jaspers Daniel Sánchez	1,583 1,524
56	1999	Porto	Semih Saygıner	1,571		1,355	Dick Jaspers	1,333 1,448
57	2000	Madrid	Daniel Sánchez	1,544	Semih Saygıner	1,568	Eddy Leppens	1,285 1,200
58	2001	Odense	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2,235		1,326	Dick Jaspers	1,447 1,839
59	2002	İzmir	Frédéric Caudron	1,730		1,497	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,481 1,397
60	2003	Göynük	Dick Jaspers	1,834	Frédéric Caudron	1,864	Marco Zanetti	1,984 1,468
61	2004	Ölüdeniz		1,652		1,358	Torbjörn Blomdahl Daniel Sánchez	1,669 1,493
62	2005	Porto	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,643	Frédéric Caudron	1,333	Dick Jaspers	1,920 1,413
63	2006	Antalya	Frédéric Caudron	1,937	Semih Saygıner	1,922	Daniel Sánchez Dick Jaspers	1,772 1,698
64	2007	Salon-de-Provence	Eddy Merckx	1,714	Frédéric Caudron	1,962	Daniel Sánchez Dick Jaspers	1,608 1,860
65	2008	Florange	Dick Jaspers	2,169	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,557	Marco Zanetti	1,317 1,391
66	2009	Odense	Daniel Sánchez	1,864	Frédéric Caudron	1,760	Torbjörn Blomdahl Tayfun Taşdemir	1,529 1,388
67	2010	Sankt Wendel	Dick Jaspers	2,168	Eddy Merckx	1,581	Marco Zanetti Tayfun Taşdemir	2,007 1,428
68	2011	Porto	Dick Jaspers	1,715	Eddy Merckx	1,518	Torbjörn Blomdahl Frédéric Caudron	1,655 1,631
69	2012	Istanbul	Filippos Kasidokostas	1,798		1,465		1,682 1,587
70	2013	Brandenburg/Havel	Marco Zanetti	2,500^*2	Christian Rudolph	1,465	Frédéric Caudron	1,869 1,059
71	2015	Brandenburg/Havel	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2.352	Eddy Merckx	1.823	Dick Jaspers	1.500 0.700
72	2017	Brandenburg/Havel	Marco Zanetti	1.980	Frédéric Caudron	1.933	Dick Jaspers	1.807 1.229
73	2019	Brandenburg/Havel	Dick Jaspers	2.500	Marco Zanetti	1.937		1.875 1.866

Note

^*1 Since there were two competing and fractious associations at that time, namely, (UIFAB) und (FIB), two different championships were held. Since the players could only affiliate to one of the associations, there was no overlapping of the participants of the respective European Championship.
^*2 New European record

Wins by country[]

Country	# Events Won Out of 70 To Date	Percentage
Belgium	37	52.85%
Sweden	9	12.85%
Netherlands	8	11.42%
France	5	7.14%
Spain	5	7.14%
Others	6	8.57%

References[]

^ Haase, Dieter; Weingartner, Heinrich (2009). Enzyklopädie des Billardsports. Wien: Verlag Heinrich Weingartner. ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3.^: p855
^ "Prize money and ranking points" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF; 110 kB) on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Haase, Dieter; Weingartner, Heinrich (2009). Enzyklopädie des Billardsports. Wien: Verlag Heinrich Weingartner. ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3.^{: p867–915}

External links[]

Media related to European Three-Cushion Championships at Wikimedia Commons

[Haase1-1] Haase, Dieter; Weingartner, Heinrich (2009). Enzyklopädie des Billardsports. Wien: Verlag Heinrich Weingartner. ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3.^: p855

[2] "Prize money and ranking points" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF; 110 kB) on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-07.

[Haase2-3] Haase, Dieter; Weingartner, Heinrich (2009). Enzyklopädie des Billardsports. Wien: Verlag Heinrich Weingartner. ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3.^{: p867–915}

[1]

[2]

[3]

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