2027 AC World Championship

ASSOCIATION CROQUET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2027

The WCF Management Committee warmly invite eligible Players

TO THE ASSOCIATION CROQUET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Wellington New Zealand 2027, Saturday 30 January to Sunday 7 February

Please don’t hesitate to contact Rosie Landrebe if you have any questions or you need support.

secretary@worldcroquet.org

WhatsApp contact: +61 481 915

2026 Golf Croquet World Championship

Venue and dates:

The Championship will be held in Cairo in Egypt, between the 21st and the 29th of November, the Opening Ceremony and Practise Day is the 20th of November

Capacity

The event capacity is 80 players.

Qualifier Competition

The qualifier will be held immediately prior to the Championship at the from the 14th to the 18th of November in Alexandria.

The format for this event will be published as details become available.

Accommodation and Travel:

Specific information is being prepared and will be shared as soon as details become available.

Some deadlines previously required for WCF events have been modified for this event, and I call your attention to important information at the bottom of the email for those changes.

Please refer to: WCF Sports Regulations   Appendix 3 for further information related to the definition of the various places available for players.

Timetable

Response date: Sunday May 31st, 2026. This is the date by which all WCF Members are requested to inform the WCF Management Committee:

(a) if they want to take up their Membership Place or Places. (RCOs should advise whether they would like to request a Membership Place)
(b) the names of their eligible players who want a Ranking or Membership place in the Event; and
(c) the names of any of those players they wish to nominate for a Wild Card Place.
Individual players who are affiliated to a WCF Member and want to gain a place in the Event must announce their availability via their Member.
However, if a player is not affiliated to a WCF Member and is not eligible to represent any WCF Member, they should contact the Secretary-General directly. 
Allocation date: Tuesday the 16th of June 2026.  
The highest grades achieved by players in the 12 months ending on this date will be used to determine the initial allocation of Ranking Places. Please refer to the WCF Sport Regulations for the exact definition.
Announcement date: Tuesday the 22/07/2026
The players who have been awarded Ranking Places and Wild Card Places will be announced on or before this date. 
Closing date: Wednesday the 12th of August
This is the last date on which Members can nominate players for Membership Places.
Payment date: Monday the 31st of August 2026

GCWC EGYPT 2026 Qualifying Event

Wild Cards

The wild cards for this event have been awarded to:

Alfred Makhubo-South Africa
Mateo Palazon - Spain

Breakdown of the Allocation for the Event

Total number of competitors - 80

Member Places -38
Places awarded from the Qualifier event- 4
Wild Cards- 2
Ranking Places- 36

Next Steps

1. Members are asked to decide their Member Places by the 12th of August 2026, 11.59 BST, by emailing their preferences to secretary@worldcroquet.org

2.If a Ranking Place is returned prior to the Cut-Off Date (3rd October), it will be filled from the Replacement Ranking List (RRL). The RRL will be sorted by Max DGrade (minimum 10 games in the prior 12 months) at the end of the day on which the vacancy arises It may include players who were not on the Initial Allocation List, provided that they have been nominated by their Member country and have not previously refused a place or withdrawn from the Event

3. Please see the regulations here WCF Sports Regulations for further explanation of the process, and do not hesitate to contact me at any time if you require help.

Ranking Places

# Name Country MaxDG
1 Matthew Essick USA 2708
2 Reg Bamford ZAF 2670
3 Ahmed Elmahdy EGY 2668
4 Tom Balding USA 2655
5 Hamy Erian EGY 2655
6 Yasser Sayed EGY 2632
7 Jack Good ENG 2604
8 Karim Ghamry EGY 2603
9 Ahmed Nasr EGY 2602
10 Mohamed Nasr EGY 2591
11 Mohamed Karem EGY 2585
12 Mohamed Taha EGY 2580
13 Euan Burridge ENG 2576
14 Khaled Kamel EGY 2557
15 Soha Mostafa EGY 2553
16 Fawzy Helmy EGY 2551
17 Jamie Burch ENG 2550
18 Stephen Mulliner ENG 2545
19 Yousif Yasser EGY 2534
20 Levi Franks NZL 2509
21 Jose Riva ESP 2502
22 Mostafa Nezar EGY 2500
23 Jose Alvarez-Sala ESP 2499
24 Amr Alebiary EGY 2477
25 Sherif Abdelwahab USA 2476
26 Omar Fahmy EGY 2468
27 Mohamed Salah EGY 2468
28 Naguib Hossam EGY 2463
29 Jenny Clarke NZL 2448
30 Maram Nabil EGY 2438
31 Ayman Nagah EGY 2437
32 Manuel Alvarez-Sala ESP 2434
33 Yasser Abuelnour EGY 2431
34 Mohamed Walid EGY 2421
35 Tamer Hatata USA 2420
36 Mostafa Eissa EGY 2420

Provisional Reserve Ranking Places

1 Edmund Fordyce NZL 2551
2 Greg Fletcher AUS 2453
3 Brian Lozano MEX 2419
4 Sam Cuthbert ENG 2418
5 Dominic Nunns ENG 2415
6 Andres Alvarez-Sala ESP 2404
7 Juan Ojeda ESP 2393
8 Ahmed Elamary EGY 2389
9 Stephen Morgan USA 2389
10 Omar Elzainy EGY 2384
11 Gary Phipps AUS 2359
12 Eduardo Nunez ESP 2353
13 Darin Guffey USA 2348
14 Pouline Salib EGY 2348
15 Nicolas Denizot ESP 2347
16 Ahab Abdelwahab USA 2345
17 Nour Aly EGY 2340
18 Josh Winter NZL 2337
19 Basem Bahgat EGY 2327
20 Dom Aarvold ENG 2324
21 Tim O'Donnell IRL 2321
22 StuartM Smith ENG 2315
23 Macey White USA 2311
24 Alison Sharpe AUS 2307
25 Ahmed Eltaweel EGY 2291
26 Mark Stephens IRL 2290
27 Otakar Stankus CZE 2288
28 Khaled Tharwat EGY 2286
29 Addison Matthews AUS 2269
30 Hanan Rashad CAN 2268
31 James Hopgood ENG 2255
32 Ahmed Kamal EGY 2246
33 Paul Kaiser NZL 2244
34 Tim Russell ENG 2243
35 Mohammad Kamal USA 2242
36 Robert O'Donoghue IRL 2241
37 Inigo Castanon ESP 2225
38 Sherif Eltarahony EGY 2225
39 Simon Williams IRL 2222
40 Brett McHardy AUS 2221
41 Debbie Lines ENG 2221
42 Steve Leonard ENG 2209
43 Kent Lovvorn USA 2205
44 Inigo Morenes ESP 2205
45 Mohamed Abuelnour EGY 2197
46 Ian Sexton CHE 2188
47 Guy Scurfield ENG 2184
48 Aadham Khaled Tharwat EGY 2183
49 Patricio Jnr Garay ESP 2182
50 Fred Rogerson IRL 2177
51 Ian Burridge WAL 2173
52 Pierre Beaudry BEL 2164
53 Ian Lines ENG 2160
54 Amr Hamdy CAN 2160
55 Begona Elzaburu ESP 2153
56 Peter Payne CHE 2152
57 Ahmed Alshurafa CAN 2146
58 Kendall Hendrick USA 2141
59 Konstantin Yudintsev ENG 2141
60 Marco Fernandez ESP 2138
61 Wolfgang Usbeck DEU 2134
62 Gabrielle Higgins ENG 2131
63 Mark Shanks SCO 2117
64 David Maunder AUS 2104
65 Ulf Saewert DEU 2098
66 Federico Zamora ESP 2091
67 Alfonso Ayuso ESP 2090
68 Rick Zazueta MEX 2087
69 Ivo Bozevnieks LAT 2072
70 Angel Nunez ESP 2072
71 Michael Lauer NZL 2070
72 Josef Rakosnik CZE 2064
73 David Wise AUS 2060
74 Adam Peck USA 2056
75 Stefan Amour SWE 2048
76 Luis Alvarez-Sala ESP 2046
77 Pilar Plasencia ESP 2036
78 Louise Smith ENG 2018
79 Nazmi Nazmi CAN 1992
80 Hans Johansson SWE 1919
81 Pedro Martins ZAF 1895
82 KS Tsang CAN 1878
83 John Carr AUS 1868
84 Francisco Paradinas ESP 1816
85 Viggo Olsen NOR 1790
86 Declan Macphee ENG 1778
87 Richard Platt ENG 1756
88 Sarah Persons USA 1708
89 Manuel Marcos Fal ESP 1698
90 Sandy Tawa AUS 1641
91 Rosario Garcia-Zozaya ESP 1637
92 Sue Fraser SCO 1615
93 Salvador Robles ESP 1606
94 Russell Roux ZAF 1593
95 Pilar Prado Latorre ESP 1491
96 Elvira Luque ESP 1374
97 Milo Ruoff HKG 1264

Players nominated but below the 10-game threshold for 12-month MaxDG:Felix Webby NZL
Blake Fields USA
Richard Peperell ENG
Carlos Munoz ESP
Pedro Ruiz-Ocejo ESP

2025 AC World Championship – Qualifier details

2025 AC World Championship Qualifier
This will take place between 14-16 October at the National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, FL
How to enter:
Entry is direct via the USCA: USCA Entry site: WCF AC World Qualifier
Size of Event:
Entry limit 24 players
Entry Fee:
The entry fee is US $75
This event determines the Qualifier Places (4 or more) for the 2025 AC World Championship. Entrants must intend to play in the main Championship if they qualify. (Players who have already been offered a place in the main Championship are not eligible to play in the Qualifier.)
The Qualifier will be played as a strict Swiss in 8 or 9 rounds. (The format is subject to change if there is a large number of vacancies.)
The Qualifier Allocation Date is 14 July. If the event is oversubscribed on that date, the list will be sorted by DGrade* and the top 24 players will be offered places. The remaining players will be placed on a waiting list. If a vacancy arises, the waiting list will be newly sorted by DGrade and the highest-ranked player will be offered the place.
If the tournament is undersubscribed on the Qualifier Allocation Date, all the entrants will be offered places, and additional places will be offered in order of receipt of entry until the event is full.
The Qualifier Closing Date is 29 September; no entries will be accepted after that date.

* Unlike the ranking list used for allocating Ranking Places in the main Championship, the ranking list for this tournament is based on a player's most recent official DGrade, whether or not the player has played any games in the prior 12 months.

A beverage station will be provided.  Daily Lunches are not provided but will be available.  Players will be charged $16 plus tax and gratuity.

Location
National Croquet Center, 700 Florida Mango Rd, West Palm Beach, FL  33406, USA

Key Contacts
Tournament Director: Jeff Soo

2025 AC World Championship – Player Information

The following information is required from all the above competing players by 28th May 2024 (or sooner please if possible).

    • A recent well-lit, clear and good quality photograph (ideally headshot)
    • 150-250 words of biographical details
    • Contact email and mobile phone numbers for during the event (for use by the Tournament Manager)

Please send this information online via Google Forms. Please click on this link: 2025 AC World Championship Player Information

Please note, the photo and bio may be published on the event website and on the WCF website. Players should expect some live streaming and the press may be present taking photographs. Players should note that their results will be published on Croquet Scores. The contact details will be held by the WCF S-G and Tournament Manager for use during the event.

You will also be sent an email with a link to join a WhatsApp group (to be set up during early June) set up for players and officials to chat together about the event, accommodation, transport, meals etc.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why is this requested via a Google Form?
The organisers for this event will pick up all the bios directly from the Google Form. This reduces the workload. If everyone sends the bio into the WCF separately, maybe by email, word document, pdf, whatsapp etc., then it would then have to be cut and pasted into some central repository. Much simpler if everyone feeds it into one place in one format in the first place.

Why can’t you re-use the information you sent last time?
Regarding your contact details:
due to data protection rules, we ask that personal data is not kept by the organisers after the event, so emails and telephone numbers need to be captured each time. And of course, these could easily change year on year.
Due to privacy laws in the UK we also need you to consent to the use of your data each time.

Regarding your bio: firstly, there is no way for the WCF to know who wants to keep an old bio and who wants to update it, so we ask for new each time. Plus, most players prefer to update the words for each event. Especially those of you that play both codes, who may want to say different things depending whether it is a GC or AC event. You might have major wins in one code and not in the other for instance.

Who might read my bio?
It could be used in various ways to advertise and promote the event.  Variously, it could be included in Sponsor Packs, the Event Website, the Programme, or perhaps sent to the Press.
Our sport needs sponsorship to help make these events financially viable. We need to look professional to attract sponsors. It is therefore important that your bios are sensible, well-written and give a good impression to the World.

Why is this information requested so early?
Work to prepare for a World Championship starts very early. The website and programmes are put together by volunteers, many of whom have other commitments. We need to give them as much time as possible to do this, to ensure that they not only do a good job, but that no undue stress is put on them.  The army of volunteers works hard to make these world championships run smoothly and to ensure that you, as a player, have a fantastic event. As players you are not asked to do a lot to help, providing this information is something you can do.

Do I have to provide this information?
Yes.
Per WCF Sports Regulations, Appendix 2 Singles Events, Clause 6.3, all players are required as part of their participation in the event to send this information through on request, in the format and manner requested by the Secretary-General and the hosts.

6.3 …. all player information requested must be received by the date specified in the Invitation. This might include a photograph, email address, contact phone number during the event (if available) and up-to-date biographical details. These should be sent to the Secretary-General in the format requested.

Do I have to join the WhatsApp group?
No, this is optional.

2025 AC World Championship – How to pay your entry fees

The 2025 AC World Championship will take place at the National Croquet Center, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, between 18 and 26 October 2025.

Entry Fees are due by 30th May at the latest.
The Entry fee for this event is £189 per player for Full and Associate Members.
[This is based on a rate of £21 per player per day for 9 days].

Please do not pay until you have been notified that you have been awarded a place in the event.
Those on the Replacement List, do NOT yet have a place.
Lists of those with awarded places can be found on event webpage.

The ERC would prefer that you pay by Bank Transfer. All details on how to do this will be in the email sent to each Member by the Secretary-General. We ask that our Members please forward this information onto their players. Paying in this way incurs lower fees for the ERC and will be very much appreciated.

If you do need to pay by PayPal, please click on the button below: