KEY 2027 ROAD TO SELECTION & MAJOR EVENT UPDATE

2026 has been a standout year for both UK Racketball and the game in the wider context. With European Squash and World Squash getting more heavily involved in the game and the inaugral officially sanctioned European Cup taking place in October this year, we are at a great position in the sport.

Because of this new major event coming in alongside the already very well established British Racketball Open, British Nationals, and also the International Teams Championships, we have an increasingly busy calendar at the top end of the game. To avoid too much congestion therefore going forwards (2027 Series onwards) this will be the new structure for the Major ranking events:

British Racketball Open - moving to March as of 2027, with the first new date being the 12th - 14th March. Still at the fantastic Hallamshire Club who have been great partners with UK Racketball for a number of years. The Hallamshire Series level event will then swap to October 2027 (essentially a like for like date replacement.)

British Racketball Nationals - staying in July and at Edgbaston Priory as our primary venue. Exact date to be confirmed for 2027 soon, but we are really pleased to again have such an awesome venue as our lead club.

International Racketball Teams Championships - staying in September for 2027 onwards. After discussion with our RASTA Scottish Series friends, we agree that keeping continuity with this date is useful for both of our Road To Selection (RTS) set ups. The response to the creation of this event and everything it has brought to both our Series, plus then the increased pick up of the game in Wales, Jersey and Guernsey has been amazing and we see this as a key flagship event as we move forwards.

European Cup - as you are aware we are the inaugral hosts of the European Cup (2nd - 4th October at Hallamshire!). This will not necessarily be the case going forward however, with the aim being that it then gets picked up and shared around our other European nations as the game progresses. (Our Finnish friends have already shown a big interest in taking it on next.) Therefore while this is absolutely a key tournament to keep tabs on, it will not form a direct part of the UK Racketball set up, therefore meaning it’s date could vary year on year. We will be working with the organisers of each year to promote it out as best we can so just make sure you keep an ear to the ground!

So this now gives the 2027 (and onwards) UK Racketball Series a much better split of Major events, with it now moving to March - July - September, instead of the current July - September - October set up. We hope this will allow people more opportunity to compete at these high level events.


ROAD TO SELECTION 2027 IMPLICATIONS:

This change does create a one off issue with regards to the 2027 Road to Selection set up. Namely that we would then have THREE Major ranking events in the July 2026 - July 2027 ranking period. This would create an imbalance in the standings with too many heavily weighted events potentially favouring some players. So this will be the compromise for the next RTS run:

• The British Nationals (July 2026), European Cup (October 2026) and British Open (March 2027) can all still count toward your Road to Selection 2027 placing as Major events.
• However, only your best finishing position from either the European Cup OR the British Open will count toward your final placing. 
• The British National Championships stands alone from this and will still count as one of your major ranking events.
• So in theory, if you won your category in the European Cup (receiving 650 points toward RTS,) but then finished runner up in the British Open (430 points,) your 650 points finish would count and your 430 points would not.
• We believe that this provides a fair balance to this standalone RTS period without diminishing the importance of either the European Cup or British Open events. 

We appreciate that this is a bit fiddly and not ideal, but it is a bit of short term pain for a long term gain and better balance to the Series calendar going forwards. Road To Selection rules will otherwise stay as they currently are set out.

If you have any questions regarding the above changes please feel free to drop Mike an email at [email protected] Otherwise we really hope to see you again at another Series event very soon!