by Karen Slawek, Edinburgh Backgammon Club
This is an update and invitation to enter the Qualifying Tournament to be part of the Open Team for Scotland, competing at the World Team Championships in London, August 24-26th 2026.
You must be available, in London, for 24-26th August and be willing to pay an estimated 100 euros toward the entry fee, your own travel and accommodation for the tournament.
Enter by 12 noon, Sunday 25th April, using this link.
https://www.backgammonhub.com/tournament/sbolclub-SO2026
There will be 4 x 11 point matches to be played by 8th May, where only the PR will count.
Open Team Selection
Eligibility is having been born or being resident in Scotland. The top 10, best average PRs will be selected for the team. There is currently a Women’s Team Qualifying tournament running and these players will also be considered for the Open Team.
Numbers
Open Team has 10 members, 5 main and 5 substitutes, Women’s Team has 6 members, 3 main and 3 substitutes, to be deployed as required.
The Background
We have been pushing very hard for several months now, to get a place at the table for the Scottish teams, Open and Women’s Teams. We now have this permission after a year of indecision from the WBGF, to be fair, they have had a lot of International issues to deal with recently.
This is for 2026 ONLY, due to the event being held in the UK, making this a unique opportunity that will probably never come around again. One consideration is that if you play for one of the Scottish Teams in 2026, you may be ineligible to play for any other national team for 2 years.
The Details
https://ukbgf.com/wp-content/uploads/WBGF_WC_London_2026_flyer.pdf
Costs
WBGF membership, 300 euros, and registration, 300 euros for both teams. I can now confirm that Martin Barkwill has stated that these will be paid by UKBGF.
Entry Fees
1000 euros for the Open Team, 500 euros for the Women’s Team. These must be paid by the teams with any winnings coming back to the team. To this end, I have asked Negar Ebrahim to draft a Crowd Funding proposal. At the moment this is for the Women’s Team but we can easily open it up for both teams. I hope to launch this at the Scottish Open, 1-3rd May, as I think this will be our most likely support group, along with friends and family.
Travel and Accommodation
This will be down to individuals to pay, estimated at around £700 per person. Hopefully crowdfunding will help here. There is campus accommodation or team AirBnB options which could be explored to keep costs down.
T-Shirt sponsors
Cubed are providing Team Polo shirts, currently I am discussion the design with them. Navy with Saltire and possibly a thistle and names, if we can provide these in time.