More than 500 players will be in the city for the three-day event, which starts at Horsham Greyhound Track on Friday night.

Horsham Eight Ball Association secretary Chris Harrison said the tournament would start with a knockout round, which was open to the public.

‘‘Anyone is welcome to come down and have a go tonight, so long as they have registered by 7pm,’’ he said.

‘‘Of course, if people don’t want to play they can just come down and have a look.’’

Mr Harrison said 36 teams from across Victoria would take part in the competition, with each team fielding seven to nine players.

He said Horsham would enter a team in divisions two and four, while Stawell would have a division two team, Ararat and St Arnaud would have division three teams and Dimboola would have a division four team.

‘‘The tournament starts on Saturday with each team playing six games, then a few more games on Sunday, then finals,’’ he said.

‘‘There are four divisions and the teams will be trying to play well so they can move up a division.

‘‘The top two teams from each division will go up a division at next year’s tournament, while the bottom two teams will move down a division.’’

Horsham previously hosted the competition in 2012 and 1994. Mr Harrison said it was great for the city to host it again.

‘‘It is a good thing for the town, with a lot of people coming from across Victoria to visit Horsham for the weekend,’’ he said.

Mr Harrison said doors would open at 8am on Saturday for competitors to practise, before the competition started later in the day.

‘‘People are welcome to come and watch us playing during the weekend – there will be food and drink available as well,’’ he said.