How our season works (2025/26)

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Season Format:

Season four will see more events than ever before with nine “open” events where players can take their best six scores to the total national standings.  This will give participants the opportunity  to be selective over which events they attend whilst still having every chance of earning rankings points and qualifying for the National Championship. If a player has a poor event, they have the opportunity to improve by attending an additional open.  There is no upper limit but only the best six events will be counted.  We are removing the automatic qualification of winning event and focussing on points build, with a revitalised scoring system.  We have some brand new venues and are still looking at some additional options to ensure a fair geographical spread.

Event Format:

The format of the UKCL Open will commence with a round robin styled play whereby as rounds progress, participants will compete with others of a similar record. This format, “Swissholio”, will default to 4 rounds, unless venue restrictions dictate otherwise.  

A significant change this season to make the Swissholio format more meaningful, only the top 32 players will progress to the top tier for a double elimination bracket.  The remaining players will be put in a tier two double elimination bracket.  This will reward those that have performed well in the opening session with more points available and also means all participants are playing with players closer to their own abilities and all players will still enjoy a minimum of six games

If there are less than 32 players at any event (or very close to that number) then we will remain as a single tier for double elimination.

Summary:

- Open to all players

- Swissholio then double elimination (Minimum 6 games)

- Cancellation first to 21 (No bust scoring) 

- Two timeouts allowed per match

Ranking Points:

Season four eliminates the disparity caused with different numbers of participants at different events across the year.  Winning any event, irrespective of participants, will give the same number of points.  Qualifying for the tier 1 double elimination will see participants rewarded with more points as follows;

Points Scale – UKCL Tier 1
1st Place = 55 pts
2nd Place = 51 pts
3rd Place = 49 pts
4th Place = 47 pts
5th Place tie = 45 pts
7th Place tie = 43 pts
9th Place tie = 41 pts
13th Place tie = 39 pts
17th Place tie = 37 pts
25th Place tie = 35 pts
33rd Place tie = 33 pts
49th – 64th tie = 31 pts

Points Scale – UKCL Tier 2
1st Place = 30pts
2nd Place = 26 pts
3rd Place = 24 pts
4th Place = 22 pts
5th Place tie = 20 pts
7th Place tie = 18 pts
9th Place tie = 16 pts
13th Place tie = 14 pts
17th Place tie = 12 pts

25th Place tie = 10 pts
33rd Place tie = 8 pts
49th – 64th tie = 6 pts

National Championships - Season Final:

The season finale will be known as the National Championships. The top 16 players based on the rankings after the last open event of the season will qualify for the Tier 1 event at the National Championships. The overall winner will be crowned Season 4 National Champion. If a player that is ranked in the top 16 and cannot compete in the National Championships the next player in line based on the rankings will fill the spot and so on.

Players that fall out of the top 16 will compete in the Tier 2 event, with the opportunity to be crowned Tier 

2 National Champion. 

Pro Status:

After the final event of the year  - National Championships.

The top 10 players based on the rankings will be awarded Pro Status for the following season and the one after. 

Prize Money:

Whilst the league is still in it’s infancy we are still not at a stage of committing to prize money at every Open but the league is willing to commit to £1,000 prize pool to be distributed at the National Championship

Membership and Fees:

Season four will see membership removed - there is no upfront cost to joining the UKCL and players can attend any event on a casual basis.  However entree fees will see an increase to £30 per singles event.  Juniors will remain at £10.  This will allow us to source better venues to host better events

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Note: Where it says TBC, these are the dates we are discussing with venues and could be subject to change depending on venue availability.