The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
and
English billiards
English billiards, called simply billiards in the United Kingdom and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team ...
around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
,
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
History
The World Billiards and Snooker Council (WB&SC) was established in 1971, following a meeting of a number of national associations at a hotel in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
during the
World Amateur Billiards Championship
The IBSF World Billiards Championship (previously known as the World Amateur Billiards Championship) is the premier, international, non-professional tournament for the game of English billiards. Dating to some form to 1951, the event has been sanc ...
. The associations were dissatisfied that the
Billiards and Snooker Control Council
The Billiards and Snooker Control Council (B&SCC) (formerly called the Billiards Association and Control Council (BA&CC)) was the governing body of the games of English billiards and snooker and organised professional and amateur championships ...
was controlling both the UK and international games. Player and journalist
Clive Everton
Clive Harold Everton (born 7 September 1937) is a sports commentator, journalist, author and former professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded '' Snooker Scene'' magazine, which was first published (as ''World Snooker'') i ...
served as the first secretary, and his office served as the first office of the WB&SC. In 1973, the WB&SC renamed itself as the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) and began to control non-professional billiards and snooker championships.
Aims and structure
The aims and objectives of the IBSF are to "co-ordinate, promote and develop the sports of billiards and snooker on a non-professional level" and to manage the following competitions:
*
IBSF World Snooker Championship
The IBSF World Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation. A nu ...
IBSF World Team Snooker Championship IBSF may refer to:
*International Billiards and Snooker Federation
*International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), originally known by the French name ''Fédération Internationale de ...
*
IBSF World Under-18 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-18 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-18 Snooker Championship) is a high-ranking non-professional junior snooker tournament. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and Snooker Fede ...
*
IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and S ...
IBSF World Para Snooker Championships IBSF may refer to:
*International Billiards and Snooker Federation
*International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), originally known by the French name ''Fédération Internationale de ...
*
IBSF World Billiards Championship
The IBSF World Billiards Championship (previously known as the World Amateur Billiards Championship) is the premier, international, non-professional tournament for the game of English billiards. Dating to some form to 1951, the event has been sanc ...
By the end of 1984, the IBSF had thirty countries as members. As of January 2020, the IBSF has seventy-three affiliated countries categorised into one of the five
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
regions:
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
. The IBSF board of directors has four executive officers (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer) plus two representatives from each Olympic region. The executive officers are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Federation and are answerable to IBSF members at the annual general meeting, which is normally held during the period of the IBSF World Snooker Championships.
Relationships to other organisations
The IBSF—alongside the
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...
(WPBSA)—was one of the two snooker-focused organisational members of the
World Confederation of Billiards Sports
The World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS) is the international umbrella organization encompassing the major cue sports (billiards-type games), including carom billiards, pool games of several varieties, and snooker. The WCBS is an organisation that promotes
cue sports
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions o ...
in the form of
carom
Carom may refer to:
* Ajwain (''Trachyspermum ammi''), an herb in Indian cuisine
* Carom billiards (also known as Carambole)
* Ricochet, a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile
* Carrom
Carrom is ...
,
pool
Pool may refer to:
Water pool
* Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming
* Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings
* Tide pool, a rocky po ...
and snooker; one of its aims is to gain the acceptance of cue sports disciplines into the Olympic Games.
The WPBSA terminated its relationship with the IBSF on 31 July 2017, over conflicts involving the two organisations' relative leadership positions within WCBS, making allegations of IBSF misconduct. As a result of the split, the WPBSA has revoked the Professional Main Tour cards that were once afforded to the IBSF World Men's and World Under-21 Champions. On 5 October 2017, WPBSA announced the formation of the World Snooker Federation (WSF), with stated goals similar to those of WCBS but with a focus on amateur and professional snooker, and an invitation for regional and national amateur snooker federations to join WSF.
As the IBSF and WPBSA were unable to come to a formal agreement, as required by the WCBS, both had their WCBS membership terminated in December 2018. In March 2019, the IBSF was reinstated to the WCBS to represent snooker.
See also
*
List of international sport federations
This is a list of international sports federations, each of which serves as a non-governmental governing body for a given sport and administers its sport at a world level, most often crafting rules, promoting the sport to prospective spectato ...