The three-cushion European championship in 1973 was the 31st tournament in this discipline of carom billiards and took place from 22 to 26 November 1972 in Crosne . Originally the EM was planned for Paris. But it was carried out in the small suburb of Paris.
For health reasons, Raymond Ceulemans and Johann Scherz canceled their participation and there was no clear favorite for this European Championship. The best chances were given to the Belgian all-rounder Ludo Dielis , especially since he had finished second behind Ceulemans and in front of Arnold de Paepe in the Belgian championship. So it came about that the two Belgians won their preliminary round groups. Since de Paepe had already lost a game against the Frenchman Roland Dufetelle in the preliminary round , everything looked like Ludo Dielis would win. In the final round, however, Dielis fared no different than de Paepe and he also lost to the French. So there was a real endgame. In this, the third of the Belgian championship was surprisingly clear with 60:38 in 56 shots. This was the twelfth time in a row that the three-band title went to Belgium. For the German, Austrian and Swiss participants, the championship ended in the placement round.
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The game was played in two preliminary round groups “everyone against everyone” to 60 points with an equal number of additional points . The groups consisted of six players each. The top four in each group made it to the finals. The fifth and sixth places in each group went into the placement group. The game points from the preliminary round were taken into the final round. In these groups, too, “everyone against everyone” played on 60 points with a follow-up / equal intake .