Ferguson Pays Tribute to Rolf Kalb on Snooker Retirement

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson has paid tribute to Germany’s Rolf Kalb who will retire from snooker after a 40-year career following the conclusion of the final of the Cazoo World Snooker Championship today.

Kalb has worked as a snooker journalist, commentator, and MC for the past four decades and has become synonymous with snooker in Germany as the popularity of the sport grew in the nation.

He began his career in 1983 as media officer for the German Cue Sports Federation while studying at university, before taking up the role as a commentator on the newly-launched Eurosport channel in November 1989.

Eurosport played a major role in the growth of snooker in mainland Europe, including in Germany, and Kalb became known as the voice of the sport to many German fans.

In 2011, the German Masters was launched with Kalb as the MC of event and it has rapidly grown into one of the highlights of the World Snooker Tour (WST) calendar each season as enthusiastic fans flock to Tempodrom in Berlin.

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: “I had the pleasure of meeting Rolf Kalb in the very early days of developing this sport internationally, it was clear back then that Rolf had the passion and the spirit to help us bring huge audiences to our great sporting moments.

“Since that day Rolf has been instrumental throughout Germany and mainland Europe and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude as our sport has grown throughout the region.

“On behalf of the WPBSA and World Snooker Tour I would like to wish Rolf a wonderful retirement and I am sure he will continue to follow our sport in the years to come.”

Follow news from the Cazoo World Snooker Championship via WST.