2020 Freesports Champions Cup Details

This unique event, now in its 3^rd year, will run over 16 consecutive weeks, being screened LIVE, on Freesports on Monday nights, 7pm – 10.30pm, starting on the 24th February 2020.

The event is Open to the current 2020 IPA Professional players, the Ladies 2020 World Champion and there will be some regional qualifiers to ensure we have a full field.

Each week 4 players will compete in a single elimination knockout and the winner will go through to the Last 16 stage. Following the completion of the qualifiers, the final stages will commence from week 17 until we find our eventual winner as per the schedule below.

Weeks 1-12 Round 1/Round 2
Weeks 13-16 Last 16/QF matches
Week 17 Semi Finals & Final

Venues: Will be local to players. The aim is to minimise travel to no more than 90 mins. Full playing schedule and venues will be announced on the 31st January.

Formats:

• Rounds 1 & 2 – best of 11
• Last 16/Quarter final – best of 11
• Semi final – best of 11
• Final best of 13 (tv time permitting)
• 30 second shot clock for all matches Prize Fund: 
• Entry Fee £170

Winner	£4,000
Runner Up	£2,000
Semi Finalist	£1,000
Quarter Finalist	£500

Dress code:

Smart polo top plus standard IPA dress code. Tops MUST be tucked in. Personal sponsor logos permitted (3 max).IPA logo must be on front breast (either side)

Players note:

• Toilet breaks are only permitted during adverts
• Mobile phones must not be used or on view whilst playing
• No alcohol in the arena
• Players are reminded about the expected standards of behaviour e.g. use of foul language, hitting the table in anger etcPlayers must arrive at the venue no later than 6pm in order for a pre match interview to be recorded.Players will be allocated to the nearest venue possible based on their location and seeding to minimise travel, however this may not always be possible. The full playing schedule will be available from the 31st January 2020.
• The top 16 at the end of the 2019 season will be seeded. If any players in the top 16 at this point have dropped off the IPA for the 2020 season, the number 17th ranked player will be seeded and so on.
• Professional Players must complete their player biogs and pay the entry fee before the 31st January 2020 in order to be eligible to participate. Players must also have paid their 2020 Tour deposit to be eligible.

Amateur Qualifiers

There will be a limited number of qualifiers, to be held at venues across the UK, to give amateur players the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a live tv audience.

Priority for a qualifying event will be given to those clubs who have, or are in the process of ordering an IPA Championship pool table.

We appreciate the tables are new to the market and not many venues have them currently.

The next criteria is that a venue must play the qualifier on the Strachan 861 blue cloth.

If your venue meets either of the 2 criteria, then please email the Chairman at ipachairman@sky.com to let us know. We have 10 spaces available so we are looking for 10 clubs to host a qualifier each.

There will be 3 host venues for the Champions Cup in 2020 – one in the North, one in Central England, and one in South. Each venue will stage 7 weeks. The winner of your qualifier will play in the venue closest to your venue, to minimise on the travel.

The format of the qualifier is as follows:

Entry – £20

One prize – the winner plays on LIVE tv in the Champions Cup 2020

If you get 2 entries or 22 entries, the prize is still the same, however, for all entries above 8 players, we will split the income 50/50 with the club. How the club allocates these funds is up to them, but we would expect it to be given back to the players in either prize money or travel expenses for the winner (or a combination of both)

The qualifier can be played in a format of your choice and should be completed by the end of February. We will advise which week your successful qualifier will be playing in the Champions Cup by the 31st January.

For those approved venues, if you can advise us of the date of the qualifier, and then the resulting winner as soon as possible.