Luxembourg will host the Euro Tour, Europe's most significant billiards tournament, from Tuesday, 7 May to Friday, 10 May, at the GridX venue in Wickrange. For the first time in the competition's 34-year history, the grand event will bring together more than 200 top professional pool players, who will square off on 19 tables, each meeting the highest technical standards. The Euro Tour rotates between host countries each year, making its Luxembourg stop a milestone for the local billiards scene.
The decision to bring the Euro Tour to Luxembourg happened unexpectedly. Serge Van Kaufenbergh, President of the Pool section of the Luxembourg Billiards Federation (FLAB), had long dreamt of welcoming the prestigious event to the country. In January, he was surprised to receive an email from the International Billiard Promotion Foundation (IBPF): the original host had withdrawn at short notice, and organisers were urgently seeking a new location.
"At first, I thought someone was playing a joke on me", Van Kaufenbergh admits, recalling how the federation had to secure a venue and organise the tournament within a matter of weeks.
Setting up a professional billiards table is a meticulous process: a finished table weighs around 500kg and typically requires about four hours to assemble. However, with an experienced team, the process can be completed in as little as one and a half hours, according to Gitano Weiss-Ahmedi, the coordinator overseeing the setup crews for the tournament. Although he does not play billiards himself, Weiss-Ahmedi has worked for over two decades as a specialist billiards table installer, primarily for major tournaments.
Precision is crucial in his line of work – not only in the assembly of the tables themselves, but also when it comes to details such as lighting, room temperature, and humidity. All these factors are strictly regulated and closely monitored, for good reason.
As Weiss-Ahmedi explains: "What happens when a player loses? Naturally, they look for an explanation outside themselves. After investing countless hours perfecting their technique and equipment, if something goes wrong, they are quick to blame the table, the equipment, or the balls – anything but themselves."
