‘A historic achievement deserves a historic honour’: Luca Brecel’s hometown will award him ‘honorary citizenship’ and organize a celebration for him after the Belgian became mainland Europe’s first snooker world champion
Luca Brecel’s hometown of Maasmechelen is gearing up to host a huge celebration in honor of the Belgian, who made history last week by becoming the first person from mainland Europe to win the World Snooker Championship.
The 28-year-old defeated Mark Selby 18-15 in the Crucible on Sunday to win his first world championship, while also becoming the youngest player to do so since Shaun Murphy won in 2005.
It was a great tournament for the Belgian, who made his way past some of the game’s icons and beat three-time winner Mark Williams to set up a quarter-final against Ronnie O’Sullivan.
He would show his resilience to beat the world No. 1 by winning the final seven frames of the match before embarking on what has been termed as one of the ‘greatest ever’ comebacks against Si Jiahui in the semi-finals.
While Brecel has certainly gained a lot of new fans over the past two weeks, it is clear that his hometown of Maasmechelen is ready to welcome him home with a big party, saying ‘we are so proud of this achievement’.
Luca Brecel (pictured) defeated Mark Selby in the final of the World Snooker Championship on
His hometown of Maasmechelen is preparing to celebrate his historic achievements
Brecel secured an 18-15 win against Selby (pictured) to become the first player from mainland Europe to win the title at the Crucible
‘History has been made! Luca Brecel crowned himself the first non-English speaking snooker world champion on May 1,” said an Instagram post from Maasmechelen’s official account. ‘The Belgian Bullet defeated the Englishman Mark Selby in a blood-strengthening final with a brilliant performance.’
‘And that deserves a MaasMagnific party! On Sunday afternoon, May 14, the municipality is organizing a large folk party to celebrate the new national hero together with all residents.’
Located an hour’s drive from Brussels in northeastern Belgium, the city has a population of around just under 40,000 people and celebrates the historic achievements of their new world champion, by granting him honorary citizenship.
‘Honorary citizenship. A historic achievement also deserves a historic award. The Council of Aldermen will therefore also nominate Luca Brecel as an honorary citizen in the municipal council.’
The city is celebrating their new champion on Instagram, with a photo captioning “Is it noticeable that we are proud of our world champion?”
Brecel (pictured) played a stunning tournament, beating both Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan to reach the semi-finals
The Belgian Bullet (pictured) then defeated Si Jiahu to book his place in the final against Selby, where he would eventually win his first world title.
The festivities, which they called ‘the great folk festival for Luca Brecel’, will take place on May 14, but the Belgian Bullet will not be able to enjoy the festivities for the time being.
That’s because he’s determined to play in the Vienna Snooker Open this weekend, where he’s been seeded into a group that includes Austrians Phillipp Koch and Arno Wild, Fracisco Domingues of Portugal and Aref Hussaini of Afghanistan.
In addition, several England players are in action at the tournament, including David Grace, Robert Milkins and Tom Ford, who shot a 147 at the tournament on Thursday.
While Brecel raised a whopping £500,000 with his win on Sunday, the winner in Vienna will take home a prize pool of around £2,150, with 80 players at the event competing for a total prize pool of £8,869.
