Petanque World Championships 2026: dates, France team and how to watch

19 min read

The 2026 petanque World Championships take place from 20 to 24 November at Khon Kaen University in Thailand, where 48 countries contest the men’s triples and precision shooting, according to the International Federation (FIPJP) (in French) and the official event website. France has picked Mickaël Bonetto, Christophe Sarrio, Ludovic Montoro and Yohan Cousin, with Bonetto also taking part in precision shooting, as the French Federation (FFPJP) (in French) announced on 1 October. The FIPJP is streaming the championships live and free of charge on its YouTube channel, with the triples final scheduled for Tuesday 24 November at 10am UK time (11am in Paris). Results are updated live on the Khon Kaen 2026 results website.

Petanque World Championships 2026: the Khon Kaen edition

The 52nd Men’s World Triples Championship and the 17th World Precision Shooting Championship take place from 20 to 24 November 2026 on the campus of Khon Kaen University, in north-eastern Thailand, according to the FIPJP. The Thai federation is organising the event with the FIPJP, and 48 countries are expected, according to the official website.

This section covers the current edition as it stood on 3 November 2026, and we will update it with the results. The sections that follow, on the format, the roll of honour and how to improve by watching the best, apply to every edition; for our other competition topics, see our articles on petanque competitions.

When and where are the 2026 World Championships being held?

The 2026 World Championships run from Friday 20 to Tuesday 24 November at Khon Kaen University (KKU) in Thailand, according to the FIPJP and the official website. The FIPJP’s provisional programme sets the Friday aside for team arrivals and the draw, leaving four days of play, from Saturday 21 to Tuesday 24. Some media give 25 November as the final day, but we are going with the dates given by the international federation and the organisers.

The university has teamed up with the Thai federation and the National Olympic Committee of Thailand to host the event, according to Sportmag’s article of 19 March 2026 (in French). You’ll find the timetable, with UK times, further down in the section on how to watch.

Who is playing for France?

France’s squad for the 2026 World Championships, announced by the FFPJP on 1 October 2026, is Mickaël Bonetto, Christophe Sarrio, Ludovic Montoro and Yohan Cousin. Mickaël Bonetto also represents France in precision shooting, the other event in Khon Kaen.

The four players were chosen by Didier Choupay, sporting director of the senior men’s France squad since the start of 2026, who was himself a five-time world triples champion between 1985 and 1998, according to the roll of honour of the World Championships on Wikipedia (in French). He explains his choice in the FFPJP’s statement: “The four athletes selected are the ones who were able to complete the full preparation that we had launched and planned at the start of the year.”

The French arrive in form, even though the world triples title has eluded them since 2021, according to Wikipedia. At the European Championships in Lorca, from 18 to 21 June 2026, France secured five medals out of a possible five, according to Sportmag’s report from Lorca (in French). Mickaël Bonetto was crowned European singles champion there: trailing 11–6 in the final against Italy’s Andrea Chiapello, he won 13–11, according to the Lorca results on Petanqueverse (in French). On 18 October, Bonetto, Montoro and Sarrio won the Europétanque in Cagnes-sur-Mer together, reports Boulistenaute (in French), and all four had already won the Masters de Pétanque in 2025, according to Le Dauphiné.

They have experience at world level too: Christophe Sarrio was world doubles champion in 2023, and he and Mickaël Bonetto won bronze in the triples that same year in Cotonou, according to Wikipedia.

Where can you watch the 2026 World Championships and follow the results?

You can watch the 2026 World Championships live and free of charge on @FIPJP, the international federation’s new official YouTube channel: the FIPJP has announced live coverage of the triples and the precision shooting from 20 to 24 November. It has not said which games will be shown. The scores and standings are updated live on khon-kaen2026.fipjp.com, the results website given by the international federation.

As of 3 November 2026, we have found no other confirmed coverage, either on television or online. That same day, the FFPJP’s YouTube channel posted a behind-the-scenes look at the France team (in French) at their training camp in Saint-Tropez, without announcing a live stream. So subscribe to the FIPJP channel – it’s free – and you won’t miss a thing.

Remember the time difference: in November, Khon Kaen is 6 hours ahead of Paris, as the FIPJP programme points out, and 7 hours ahead of the UK. So the triples final, scheduled for 5pm in Thailand, starts at 10am UK time, and Sunday’s first rounds begin in the middle of the night in Europe. Here are the key times from the FIPJP’s provisional programme – they are only a guide:

While you wait for play to start, you can rewatch the games we filmed at the 2024 World Championships in Dijon on our YouTube channel.

Can you watch the World Championships in person?

Yes, the 2026 World Championships are open to the public: for international spectators, the official website offers a €10 day ticket, a €35 pass for the whole tournament and €60 VIP access. Khon Kaen airport is 15 minutes from the competition venue, the organisers point out.

The surprises of the 2026 World Championships

The 2026 World Championships served up several surprises before the first end was even played: a change of country and date, a France team without three of its leading players, defending champions Italy without Diego Rizzi or Alessio Cocciolo, and a reshuffled list of favourites. Here are the ones we have picked out, all taken from official announcements and the specialist press.

• A championship on the move The event was due to be played in September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but the Malaysian federation did not secure the public funding it was hoping for and withdrew, according to the German federation as quoted by Petanqueverse; Thailand stepped in at short notice.
• Without Rocher, Lacroix or Feltain Dylan Rocher, Henri Lacroix and Jean Feltain, bronze medallists in Dijon in 2024, have not been selected, as Le Dauphiné noted; the only official reason is the one given by Didier Choupay, who picked the four players who had completed all the planned preparation.
• Italy without Rizzi or Cocciolo The defending champions are sending Andrea Chiapello, Andrea Damiano, Jacopo Gardella and Thomas Rinaudo, according to the Italian federation (in Italian), without Diego Rizzi or Alessio Cocciolo, despite both being world champions in Dijon; Rizzi even won the world singles title in Rome in 2025, according to Wikipedia.
• An all-home-based Madagascar The world runners-up are fielding four players based in Madagascar, without a single expat – Liva, Baloty, Tendry and Lova – chosen after selection trials and then brought together for a three-week closed training camp in Antsirabe, according to The Rio Times, which cites the Malagasy press.
• No Weibel, no Molinas Claudy Weibel has retired from the Belgian national team, and Switzerland is doing without its shooter Maïky Molinas, notes Sportmag’s preview of France’s rivals (in French).
• Thailand, from absentees to favourites World champions in Cotonou in 2023 but absent from Dijon in 2024, according to Petanqueverse, they are playing at home this time with a squad that Sportmag calls a “five-star armada”.

Who will be world champion in 2026? Our prediction

The 2026 world triples champions will be known by 24 November at the latest, the last day of the competition in Khon Kaen according to the FIPJP. Our prediction – our view as fans, not a certainty – has Thailand as champions ahead of Madagascar, a weakened Italy and a France team capable of reaching the podium as outsiders.

We base this prediction on each nation’s recent results, set out below, and we will replace it with the official results after the final.

In the triples: Thailand, then Madagascar

In the triples, we’re tipping Thailand to be crowned 2026 world champions. They are playing at home, and their squad includes Ratchata Khamdee and Sarawut Sriboonpeng, world triples champions in 2023 and then world doubles champions in 2025, according to the Wikipedia roll of honour; as early as March, Sportmag was calling them “the team to beat”.

In our view, Madagascar are the nation on the rise: finalists in Dijon, doubles medallists and mixed doubles champions at the 2025 World Championships, they are also winning at youth level, according to Wikipedia. Their choice of four home-based players remains a gamble, but Baloty and Lova already know what a world podium feels like.

Italy are defending their title without Diego Rizzi, whom we consider one of the best players in the world, or Alessio Cocciolo. Andrea Chiapello, champion in 2024, whom Sportmag’s report from Lorca calls “the heir to Rizzi and Cocciolo”, leads a team that we see as weaker than in Dijon.

France are not going in as favourites, Sportmag wrote in September, but they are arriving with confidence: a group that has prepared together since the start of the year, Mickaël Bonetto in the top two of Boulistenaute’s TOP 1000 ranking this season, and wins in 2025 as well as 2026. We see them reaching the semi-finals, and therefore the podium, with a Thailand–Madagascar final and the title going to Thailand.

In precision shooting: our favourite, Mickaël Bonetto

In precision shooting, our favourite is Mickaël Bonetto, described by Sportmag as the European champion in the discipline, in an event where France has won three of the last four World Championships, in 2018, 2021 and 2023, according to Wikipedia. The defending champion is Madagascar’s Jean-François Rakotondrainibe, known as “Zigle”, who took the title in Dijon in 2024.

Our caution comes from a gap in what we know: as of 3 November, we do not know every shooter taking part. Italy have entered all four of their players for both events without saying which of them will contest the precision shooting, and if Thailand fields Ratchata Khamdee, silver medallist in precision shooting in 2023 according to Wikipedia, he will be a serious rival.

Who are the reigning petanque world champions?

Italy have been the men’s world triples champions since December 2024: in Dijon, they beat Madagascar 13–11 in the final, according to Petanqueverse. Each event has its own champion, though, and the table below gives the latest winner of each one, based on the Wikipedia roll of honour.

The 2024 final ended a long wait: Italy had not won the world triples title since 1979, and they took the title with Diego Rizzi, Alessio Cocciolo, Andrea Chiapello and Davide Lafore, after beating Tunisia 13–4 in the semi-final, according to Petanqueverse. France, beaten 13–3 by Madagascar in the semi-final, shared the bronze with Tunisia, according to Wikipedia.

Dijon 2024: what we saw from the sidelines

In December 2024, Petanque Academy was at the Zénith in Dijon as a media outlet: the organisers allowed us to film a few games, while the official footage was left to the federation. Three things struck us: the quality of the organisation, the very high standard of every team, and the France team, with all eyes on them because they were playing at home.

We filmed several games there, from Spain–Mauritania to the last-16 tie between Madagascar and Sweden, along with moments from the Italy–Madagascar final. It’s a fans’ view from the sidelines, of just a few games, but it gives an idea of the standard awaiting the 48 nations in Khon Kaen.

How do the petanque World Championships work?

The World Championships take place every year under the auspices of the FIPJP, but the events alternate: in even-numbered years, men’s triples and precision shooting; in odd-numbered years, singles, doubles and mixed doubles, for men and for women alike, according to Petanqueverse. Youth events and women’s triples have their own editions.

The events and the calendar

The events are spread across several cities and several seasons, as the latest editions recorded by the FIPJP and by Wikipedia show.

At youth level, in Santa Susanna from 30 July to 2 August 2026, Thailand won the mixed triples and Madagascar the mixed doubles, according to the Wikipedia page on the 2026 edition (in French). In the women’s events, Vietnam won the triples in 2025 in the Douaisis, and Thailand the doubles and the singles in Rome, according to Wikipedia.

World Championships or “Mondial”: don’t mix them up

The Mondial La Marseillaise, the Mondial de la Pétanque in Montpellier, the Mondial de Fréjus and the Mondial de Bron are major tournaments, not World Championships. Only the championship organised by the FIPJP, between the national squads of its member federations, awards the title of world champion.

These tournaments often bring together top players from several countries, hence the confusion. But there, players team up as they wish, whereas at the World Championships each national federation sends its official squad.

The men’s triples format

At the World Triples Championship, each nation enters a squad of four players for a team of three, and each player has two boules per end, according to the official FIPJP rules (in French). In Dijon, in 2024, the 48 teams first played five games in a Swiss system, where each team faces opponents with a similar record, according to Petanqueverse.

The top 24 then formed eight groups of three, from which 16 teams went through to a knockout stage that ran all the way to the final, again according to Petanqueverse. The other 24 nations played the Nations Cup, a parallel competition for the countries that did not qualify for the final stages, as the official Dijon 2024 website (in French) explained.

In Khon Kaen, the FIPJP’s provisional programme has the five Swiss-system rounds on the Sunday, with games limited to 1 hour 15 minutes, then two more ends. On the Monday, the teams ranked 9th to 24th play a qualifying round, followed by the last 16 and the quarter-finals; the semi-finals and the final are on the Tuesday, all played to 13 points. Meanwhile, the lower-ranked nations contest the Nations Cup.

Precision shooting, the shooters’ event

Precision shooting is an individual shooting event made up of workshops (different target set-ups), scored in points, contested at the World Championships since 2000, according to Wikipedia. France has 9 titles in 16 editions, well ahead of Thailand and Madagascar, with 2 titles each, according to the same roll of honour.

Workshops, distances, scoring and tips on how to prepare: it’s all in our guide to precision shooting, which will help you follow the Khon Kaen event with an expert eye.

What these shooters pull off under the pressure of a world final rests on shots practised until they become automatic. The “Shooting” module of our training programme breaks down the main shots, from the direct hit to shooting just in front and the running shot, with demonstrations and practical exercises.

Roll of honour and history of the World Championships

The very first World Championships were played in 1959 in Spa, Belgium, and France won that first edition and the next two, with Fernand Maraval, Marcel Marcou and François De Souza, according to Wikipedia. Since then, France has dominated the men’s triples with 29 world titles, well ahead of Italy and Switzerland, with 4 titles each.

The 2014 edition, planned for Tahiti, was cancelled over fears of the Ebola epidemic, according to Wikipedia. Over the years, more events were added: precision shooting in 2000, singles in 2015, then doubles and mixed doubles in 2017.

Women have had their own World Championships since the first edition in Palma in 1988, and Thailand won eight women’s triples titles between 1988 and 2021, again according to Wikipedia. Across all events and categories, France has 60 world titles and Thailand 31, according to the Wikipedia medal table as of September 2026.

Watching the World Championships to improve

Watching the World Championships closely is a proper exercise in improving your petanque: seeing a champion’s throw activates the areas of the brain that control that same throw, explains Jean-François, our petanque coach, in our programme. This is the principle of visualisation, a pillar of mental preparation.

Watching a champion closely is already a form of practice. But you need to know what to look for, and how to hold on to those images for your next game; for the other areas to work on – technique, fitness and the mental game – see our guide to improving your petanque.

What to look for in a shooter like Mickaël Bonetto

When you watch a shooter like Mickaël Bonetto, look for two things: the body offset – that slight lean of the upper body and head towards the throwing-arm side – and his weight shifting from back to front as the boule leaves his hand. In our programme, Jean-François cites Bonetto as a model of exactly these two movements.

Watch his eyes too: they stay fixed on the target boule until the release. The body offset frees the arm and lines up the dominant eye with the target, and the weight transfer adds power without forcing: the why and the how, with guidelines to help you find that feel yourself, are in the “Stance” module of our online training programme.

You can start practising now with Mickaël Bonetto’s games at the 2026 Mondial de Fréjus, which are on our YouTube channel.

Turning a game you watch into a visualisation session

To turn a game you watch into a visualisation session, choose a player who plays in your position, follow their whole throw without taking your eyes off them, then relive it in your head before your next game and link it to the feel of the throw. Start with short, simple images: a single shot, a single pointing throw.

Stick to successful images where you can, because an image of failure gets memorised too, as Jean-François reminds us in our programme.

Visualisation goes far beyond watching champions. The “Mental preparation” module of our programme teaches you to create your own images, anchor them in your performance routines and recall them between games, at your own pace.

Where will the 2027 World Championships be held?

The next World Championships will be played from 2 to 5 September 2027 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden, according to the FIPJP international calendar (in French). The international federation has not yet specified which events will be held in Gothenburg, and we will add them to this page as soon as they are announced.

Frequently asked questions

Key points

The 2026 petanque World Championships look wide open, with Thailand favourites at home, a rising Madagascar and a France team in form – and you can follow it all free of charge on the FIPJP YouTube channel. Watch them as a fan, but also as a player who wants to improve: Mickaël Bonetto’s body offset, his weight transfer and the composure of the best can all be worked on. Our training programme helps you get there, at your own pace and whatever your level, so you can grow as a player in our wonderful game.

This programme is not sports instruction within the meaning of the French Sports Code. It is informal educational support, designed to enrich your personal practice of petanque, with no individual supervision and no qualification awarded.