The final stages of the 2025 World Snooker Championship take place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England across 17 days between Saturday 19th April to Monday 5th May.
The World Snooker Championship title is the sport's ultimate accolade, having first been won by Joe Davis in 1927. The event has been held at the famous Crucible venue every year since 1977.
Carrying a prize fund of over £2.3 million, the winner of this year's blue riband spectacular will pocket the £500,000 top prize.
This is the final tournament of the 2024/25 professional snooker season. John Higgins won the most recent competition on the circuit at the 2024 Tour Championship.
How does the draw and tournament format for the 2025 World Snooker Championship work?
In total, 144 contestants were entered into this year’s Championship. Everyone with a professional tour card was eligible to enter, and several top amateurs were also awarded invites due to their performances in big tournaments over the past year.
The top 16 players from the world rankings following the 2024 Tour Championship automatically went through to the final stages at the Crucible, and gained a spot in the 32-player main draw.
The remaining 128 cueists had to attend the qualifying rounds for the competition held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between April 7th to 16th.
There were four qualifying rounds with a tiered draw used, meaning players entered the fray depending on their world ranking position. The amateurs and lowest ranked professionals needed to start in the opening round, while those ranked 17 to 48 didn’t have to come in until the penultimate round.
This process yielded 16 qualifiers who were then randomly drawn against the top 16 players for round one proper at the Crucible a few days later.
The top 16 seeds were already fixed in the draw bracket, meaning if all results went according to seeding, the top four would all reach the semi-finals.
Who are the seeds for the 2025 World Snooker Championship, who is playing at the Crucible?
Kyren Wilson is this year’s reigning and defending champion. ‘The Warrior’ defeated Jak Jones 18-14 in the 2024 final to win his first world title.
Wilson has enjoyed a stellar year with the crown, winning a further four ranking titles since. As the title holder, he is the number one seed and sits at the top of the draw.
No first-time Crucible champion has retained the title the following year; this anomaly is labelled the ‘Crucible Curse’.
World number one Judd Trump - champion here in 2019 - is the number two seed and is placed at the bottom of the draw. Wilson and Trump have faced each other three times in finals this season - Wilson winning them all - but only once before in Crucible history have the top two seeds met in the final; in 1987.
Nine of this year’s top 16 seeds have won the title here at least once before: Ronnie O’Sullivan (7 times), John Higgins, Mark Selby (4 times), Mark Williams (3 times), Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump, Luca Brecel, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy (once).
Three players will be making their debuts as Crucible top 16 seeds: Si Jiahui, Xiao Guodong, Jak Jones.
The top 16 seeds for the 2025 World Snooker Championship:
1: Kyren Wilson, 2: Judd Trump, 3: John Higgins, 4: Mark Selby, 5: Ronnie O'Sullivan, 6: Mark Williams, 7: Luca Brecel, 8: Mark Allen, 9: Neil Robertson, 10: Ding Junhui, 11: Barry Hawkins, 12: Zhang Anda, 13: Si Jiahui, 14: Xiao Guodong, 15: Shaun Murphy, 16: Jak Jones
What is the tournament format at the Crucible? How long are the matches?
The World Snooker Championship is like no other snooker event. Matches are long and held over multiple sessions - increasing as the competition goes on - the schedule is pretty relentless, and the intimate surroundings of the Crucible is like a pressure cooker.
For the opening 12 days, two tables are in operation in the arena. From the semi-finals, the venue is transformed into a one-table set-up, allowing more space for the players and officials.
- Round One (last 32): Best of 19 frames (two sessions)
- Round Two (last 16): Best of 25 frames (three sessions)
- Quarter-Finals: Best of 25 frames (three sessions)
- Semi-Finals: Best of 33 frames (four sessions)
- Final: Best of 35 frames (four sessions)
Round One
Kyren Wilson (1) v Lei Peifan
Jak Jones (16) v Zhao Xintong
Neil Robertson (9) v Chris Wakelin
Mark Allen (8) v Fan Zhengyi
Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) v Ali Carter
Zhang Anda (12) v Pang Junxu
Si Jiahui (13) v David Gilbert
Mark Selby (4) v Ben Woollaston
John Higgins (3) v Joe O’Connor
Xiao Guodong (14) v Matthew Selt
Barry Hawkins (11) v Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams (6) v Wu Yize
Luca Brecel (7) v Ryan Day
Ding Junhui (10) v Zak Surety
Shaun Murphy (15) v Daniel Wells
Judd Trump (2) v Zhou Yuelong
Round Two
Wilson/Lei v Jones/Zhao
Robertson/Wakelin v Allen/Fan
O'Sullivan/Carter v Zhang/Pang
Si/Gilbert v Selby/Woollaston
Higgins/O’Connor v Xiao/Selt
Hawkins/Vafaei v Williams/Wu
Brecel/Day v Ding/Surety
Murphy/Wells v Trump/Zhou
Match schedule and order of play for the 2025 World Snooker Championship:
R1: Round One match, R2: Round Two match
Saturday 19th April
10:00BST
- R1: Kyren Wilson v Lei Peifan - first session
- R1: Xiao Guodong v Matthew Selt - first session
14:30BST
- R1: Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin - first session
- R1: Mark Williams v Wu Yize - first session
19:00BST
- R1: Kyren Wilson v Lei Peifan - concluding session
- R1: Barry Hawkins v Hossein Vafaei - first session
Sunday 20th April
10:00BST
- R1: Jak Jones v Zhao Xintong - first session
- R1: Xiao Guodong v Matthew Selt - concluding session
14:30BST
- R1: Mark Allen v Fan Zhengyi - first session
- R1: Mark Williams v Wu Yize - concluding session
19:00BST
- R1: Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin - concluding session
- R1: Barry Hawkins v Hossein Vafaei - concluding session
Monday 21st April
10:00BST
- R1: Jak Jones v Zhao Xintong - concluding session
- R1: John Higgins v Joe O’Connor - first session
14:30BST
- R1: Mark Allen v Fan Zhengyi - concluding session
- R1: Ding Junhui v Zak Surety - first session
19:00BST
- R1: Si Jiahui v David Gilbert - first session
- R1: John Higgins v Joe O’Connor - concluding session
Tuesday 22nd April
10:00BST
- R1: Zhang Anda v Pang Junxu - first session
- R1: Shaun Murphy v Daniel Wells - first session
14:30BST
- R1: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ali Carter - first session
- R1: Ding Junhui v Zak Surety - concluding session
19:00BST
- R1: Si Jiahui v David Gilbert - concluding session
- R1: Judd Trump v Zhou Yuelong - first session
Wednesday 23rd April
10:00BST
- R1: Zhang Anda v Pang Junxu - concluding session
- R1: Shaun Murphy v Daniel Wells - concluding session
14:30BST
- R1: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ali Carter - concluding session
- R1: Luca Brecel v Ryan Day - first session
19:00BST
- R1: Mark Selby v Ben Woollaston - first session
- R1: Judd Trump v Zhou Yuelong - concluding session
Thursday 24th April
13:00BST
- R2: Last 16 match - first session
- R1: Luca Brecel v Ryan Day - concluding session
19:00BST
- R1: Mark Selby v Ben Woollaston - concluding session
- R2: Last 16 match - first session
.jpg)
0 Nhận xét