by Ben Hudd • February 15, 2023

A star-studded field has been revealed for the upcoming Premier League Pool from March 6-13, with Earl Strickland making an anticipated return to the nineball arena in Leicester, England.

Matchroom have confirmed a change of qualification criteria ahead of this year’s edition, with all 16 players being invited instead of the world’s top 12 automatically qualifying alongside four wildcards.

Albin Ouschan will be vying to win the tournament for the third successive year, having defeated Joshua Filler in last year’s final, while newly-crowned world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz also headlines the lineup.

Five-time US Open champion Shane van Boening is amongst three American players to receive invitations, with two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Skyler Woodward and the legendary Strickland also set to travel to Leicester’s Morningside Arena.

Recent World Pool Championship semi-finalist Wu Kun-Lin has been rewarded for his exploits in Poland, while former world champion Alex Pagulayan, Jayson Shaw and Konrad Juszczyszyn will be involved.

In addition, two of nineball pool’s most promising prospects in world number 92 Khalid Al-Ghamdi from Saudi Arabia and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Sanjin Pehlivanovic receive opportunities to showcase their prodigious talents.

South Korea’s Seo Seoa, meanwhile, will make her debut in the nineball arena following her recent run to the Women’s World Championship semi-finals in Atlantic City.

A total of 16 players will compete across the eight days in the East Midlands, with players being eliminated between league phases. Four players will contest the semi-finals on Monday, March 13, with the eventual champion taking home the $20,000 top prize.

Four additional wildcards will be confirmed in due course, with the tournament broadcast via matchroom.live in the UK and Ireland as well as DAZN in the USA and Canada. A full list of broadcasters can be found here.

2023 PREMIER LEAGUE POOL FIELD

🇦🇹 Albin Ouschan
🇪🇸 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
🇺🇸 Shane van Boening
🇬🇧 Jayson Shaw
🇵🇱 Konrad Juszczyszyn
🇹🇼 Wu Kun-Lin
🇧🇦 Sanjin Pehlivanovic
🇺🇸 Skyler Woodward
🇨🇦 Alex Paguyalan
🇸🇦 Khalid Al-Ghamdi
🇺🇸 Earl Strickland
🇰🇷 Seo Seoa

+ four additional wildcards