In a rerun of the 2008 and 2012 world finals, seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is set to face Ali Carter in a blockbuster opening round match at the 2025 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The 32-player main draw for this year’s blue riband snooker extravaganza was conducted live on Thursday morning on BBC Radio 5 Live and through the BBC Sport website.
O'Sullivan has a hugely dominant head-to-head career record over Carter - including those victories that secured his third and fourth world titles - although Carter memorably defeated him in their last meeting at the Crucible in 2018.
That feisty round two encounter featured the famous 'bargegate' incident in the middle of the match that resulted in a heated verbal exchange on the hallowed Crucible carpet that referee Paul Collier had to put a stop to.
Carter won that tie 13-9, although since then O'Sullivan has got the better of him in their six most recent encounters on a big stage, including the 2024 Masters final at the Alexandra Palace in London, where there were again words of disagreement after the match.
It is still unclear whether O’Sullivan will actually play at the Crucible having not featured on the professional circuit since the start of January when he deliberately broke his cue in frustration at the behind-closed-doors Championship League Invitational.
However, the record-breaking 23-time major champion has recently been seen making a maximum 147 break with his new cue during a trip to his academy in Saudi Arabia.
Reigning World Champion Wilson to start against Lei
Kyren Wilson will start the defence of his World Championship title against Crucible debutant Lei Peifan in round one on Saturday.
Wilson won the sport’s ultimate prize for the first time in his career 12 months ago when he defeated Jak Jones 18-14 in the final. Since then, ‘The Warrior’ has flourished whilst wearing the world crown, taking his game to new levels by collecting four ranking titles this season.
In Lei, though, Wilson faces a current ranking event champion. The 21-year-old from China shocked the snooker world when he won the 2024 Scottish Open just before Christmas, becoming one of the sport’s unlikeliest ranking event champions, ever.
Lei is one of a record-breaking 10 Chinese players to have made the Crucible this year; the previous highest tally was six in 2019.
World number one Judd Trump will begin his pursuit of a second world title against Zhou Yuelong, while former UK Champion Zhao Xintong - who returned to the sport earlier this season following the expiration of his ban - meets last year’s runner-up Jones.
Zhao will be back on the professional circuit full time from next season, but the 28-year-old currently doesn’t have a tour card, and is only the third amateur player in history to have qualified for the main draw of a Crucible World Championship.
Former top 16 star Zhao - who had to navigate four rounds of qualifying - could meet defending champion Wilson in round two.
Elsewhere in the draw, a resurgent four-time World Champion John Higgins - who has won two of the last four events on the World Snooker Tour, including the most recent one at the Tour Championship - faces Joe O’Connor.
The match is a repeat of the recent World Open final from Yushan, China that Higgins won 10-6 to end his four-year wait for a ranking event trophy. On his Crucible debut last year, O’Connor defeated Mark Selby in the first round.
Four-time champion here, Selby returns to the Crucible this year in far better form after a rejuvenating season that has seen him win three tournaments, and reach the final of the last one in Manchester.
Selby has another fellow Leicester opponent to contend with in round one this time, though, as he faces Ben Woollaston, who is making his second Crucible appearance, 12 years on from his debut.
Chinese youngster Wu Yize is having a breakthrough season having reached the first two ranking event finals of his career, although he needed to come through a dramatic deciding frame against Matthew Stevens in the final round of qualifying on Wednesday night. Wu takes on three-time champion Mark Williams, who has been struggling with eyesight issues at recent events on the circuit.
Champion here two years ago, Luca Brecel meets the very experienced Ryan Day. Belgian Brecel has not played professionally since the middle of February and faces the prospect of a huge plummet down the world rankings as he defends the £500,000 first prize he added to his ranking tally 24 months ago.
Number eight seed Mark Allen - who was world number one at the start of this season - plays Fan Zhengyi. The two met in round one two years ago on Fan’s Crucible debut; Allen won 10-5.
Three players are preparing to make their Crucible debuts this year. Along with Lei, Daniel Wells and Zak Surety will step out into the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ for the first time. Wells and Surety are both in the bottom quarter of the draw and will face Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui, respectively.
Fifteen years on from his Crucible glory, Australia’s Neil Robertson is back as a top 16 seed after missing out on the venue altogether last year. Robertson will share the baize in round one with world number 20 Chris Wakelin.
A semi-finalist here last year, David Gilbert returns and plays number 13 seed Si Jiahui, first up.
There is an all-Chinese affair between Zhang Anda and Pang Junxu, while Xiao Guodong - who won his maiden ranking title earlier this season - is up against Matthew Selt, who was the final player to emerge from qualifying.
Runner-up to O’Sullivan in the 2013 final, Barry Hawkins has been drawn against Hossein Vafaei. Iran’s number one Vafaei compiled five century breaks in his final qualifying round victory on Wednesday at the English Institute of Sport.
The first round draw for the 2025 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre:
Kyren Wilson (1) v Lei Peifan
Jak Jones (16) v Zhao Xintong
Neil Robertson (9) v Chris Wakelin
Mark Allen (8) v Fan Zhengyi
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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
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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
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Luca Brecel (7) v Ryan Day
Ding Junhui (10) v Zak Surety
Shaun Murphy (15) v Daniel Wells
Judd Trump (2) v Zhou Yuelong
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