The 2025 Worldwide Championship begins on Sunday with a stellar draw and large prize cash on supply within the snooker season’s fourth journey to China.
Following the campaign-opening Shanghai Masters invitational that was gained by Kyren Wilson, this would be the third Chinese language rating occasion on the 2025/25 calendar.
Xiao Guodong efficiently defended his Wuhan Open crown in August earlier than Mark Williams subsequently triumphed on the Xi’an Grand Prix.
The upcoming week in Nanjing can be an necessary one, because the event represents the final earlier than the cut-off level to seal computerized seeding in York for the UK Championship.
2025 Worldwide Championship prize cash
Champion: £175,000
Runner-up: £75,000
Semi-final: £33,000
Quarter-final: £22,000
Final 16: £14,000
Final 32: £9,000
Final 64: £5,000
Highest Break: £5,000
Complete: £825,000
Who’re the previous champions?
Ding Junhui is the reigning champion, the favored dwelling hero claiming his first rating title in virtually 5 years with victory over Chris Wakelin within the 2024 closing.
It was Ding’s second Worldwide Championship title having additionally been topped means again in 2013, with the inaugural version in 2012 being gained by Judd Trump.
At the moment, the event was been billed as a possible fourth main on the calendar, however that notion by no means actually took off.
Ricky Walden and John Higgins emerged victoriously in 2014 and 2015 respectively with Mark Selby securing consecutive wins within the following two seasons.
Mark Allen triumphed in 2018 earlier than Trump scored his second success within the competitors a yr later.
There have been a couple of years when the event couldn’t happen due to the worldwide pandemic, however upon its return in 2023 there was a shock champion in Zhang Anda.
How does the 2025 Worldwide Championship draw work?
Very like the vast majority of different rating occasions on the annual schedule, there was a batch of qualifiers first held within the UK.
Loads of gamers have already safely made it past the primary spherical, together with the likes of Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, John Higgins, Mark Selby and final week’s Northern Eire Open winner Jack Lisowski.
Former champion Mark Allen and 2023 world champion Luca Brecel have been a few high-profile names who have been defeated within the preliminary section.
A number of round-of-128 matches involving the marquee names have been held over to the primary venue on the SNC Nationwide Health Heart.
Reigning champion Ding and world primary Trump are amongst them, whereas Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong are different star sights who had their video games deferred.
The 2025 Worldwide Championship has already been hit by a variety of withdrawals, nevertheless.
Mark Williams, Ali Carter, David Gilbert, Ken Doherty, and Sam Craigie all certified for the final 64 however have pulled out, providing byes into the final 32 for his or her respective opponents.
2025 Worldwide Championship Draw
Spherical of 128 (bo11)
Ding Junhui vs David Grace (held over)
Michael Holt 6-2 Reanne Evans
Pang Junxu 6-1 Ross Muir
Liam Highfield 6-5 Jackson Web page
Shaun Murphy 6-1 Yao Pengcheng
Robbie Williams vs Bai Yulu/Wang Xinzhong (held over)
Elliot Slessor 6-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Ben Mertens 6-3 Matthew Selt
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Xu Jiarui (held over)
David Gilbert 6-5 Liam Davies
Scott Donaldson 6-0 Antoni Kowalsi
Mitchell Mann 6-4 Mark Allen
Ryan Day 6-3 Zhao Hanyang
Hossein Vafaei 6-1 Fergal Quinn
Oliver Traces 6-2 Jordan Brown
John Higgins 6-5 Liam Pullen
Neil Robertson 6-1 Umut Dikme
Ken Doherty 6-5 Stan Moody
Yuan Sijun 6-2 Julien Leclercq
Ricky Walden 6-1 Gao Yang
Xiao Guodong vs Mahmoud El Hareedy (held over)
Zak Surety 6-2 Farakh Ajaib
Ali Carter 6-0 Liam Graham
Aaron Hill 6-1 Leone Crowley
He Guoqiang 6-3 Duane Jones
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Ian Burns
Jiang Jun 6-4 Lengthy Zehuang
Chris Wakelin 6-1 Florian Nuessle
Xu Si 6-3 Sahi Nayyar
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Kreishh Gurbaxani
David Lilley 6-3 Chatchapong Nasa
Kyren Wilson 6-2 Gong Chenzhi
Judd Trump vs Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Connor Benzey
Zhou Yuelong vs Wang Xinbo (held over)
Noppon Saengkham 6-1 Jonas Luz
Zhang Anda 6-3 Chris Totten
Michal Szubarczyk 6-4 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Wu Yize 6-3 Lan Yuhao
Lyu Haotian 6-1 Ng On Yee
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Cheung Ka Wai
Jak Jones 6-1 Mateusz Baranowski
Huang Jiahao 6-5 Mark Davis
Barry Hawkins vs Zhou Jinhao (held over)
Louis Heathcote 6-2 Jamie Jones
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Bulcsu Revesz
Sanderson Lam 6-0 Amir Sarkhosh
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Allan Taylor (held over)
Mark Williams 6-2 Iulian Boiko
Anthony McGill 6-0 Mink Nutcharut
Sam Craigie 6-1 Joe O’Connor
Jimmy Robertson 6-3 Chang Bingyu
Mark Selby 6-0 Steven Hallworth
Liu Hongyu 6-1 Haydon Pinhey
Tom Ford 6-1 Robbie McGuigan
Daniel Wells 6-2 Jimmy White
Martin O’Donnell 6-5 Xu Yichen
Gary Wilson 6-3 Artemijs Zizins
Wang Yuchen 6-5 Robert Milkins
Si Jiahui 6-3 Sunny Akani
Liu Wenwei 6-5 Luca Brecel
Lei Peifan 6-3 Haris Tahir
Fan Zhengyi 6-1 Hatem Yassen
Zhao Xintong vs Oliver Brown (held over)
Spherical of 64 (bo11)
Ding/Grace vs Michael Holt
Pang Junxu vs Liam Highfield
Shaun Murphy vs R.Williams/Bai/Wang
Elliot Slessor vs Ben Mertens
Un-Nooh/Xu w/o David Gilbert
Scott Donaldson vs Mitchell Mann
Ryan Day vs Hossein Vafaei
Oliver Traces vs John Higgins
Neil Robertson w/o Ken Doherty
Yuan Sijun vs Ricky Walden
Xiao/El Hareedy vs Zak Surety
Aaron Hill w/o Ali Carter
He Guoqiang vs Stuart Bingham
Jiang Jun vs Chris Wakelin
Xu Si vs Stephen Maguire
David Lilley vs Kyren Wilson
Trump/Emery vs Matthew Stevens
Zhou/Wang vs Noppon Saengkham
Zhang Anda vs Michal Szubarczyk
Wu Yize vs Lyu Haotian
Ben Woollaston vs Jak Jones
Huang Jiahao vs Hawkins/Zhou
Louis Heathcote vs Jack Lisowski
Sanderson Lam vs O’Sullivan/Taylor
Anthony McGill w/o Mark Williams
Jimmy Robertson w/o Sam Craigie
Mark Selby vs Liu Hongyu
Tom Ford vs Daniel Wells
Martin O’Donnell vs Gary Wilson
Wang Yuchen vs Si Jiahui
Liu Wenwei vs Lei Peifan
Fan Zhengyi vs Zhao/Brown
Click on right here to view the up to date draw and outcomes (snooker.org)
How one can watch the 2025 Worldwide Championship
There are a number of choices accessible to observe the upcoming snooker stay, relying in your location.
Most of the widespread betting websites present stay streaming of snooker occasions by signing up on their web sites or apps.
Beneath is a full checklist of the official choices, as revealed on the World Snooker Tour web site:
UK & Eire
TNT Sports activities and discovery+
Mainland Europe
Eurosport and domestically related streaming platforms
(discovery+ in Germany, Italy and Austria and HBO Max in all different markets)
China
CCTV5
Huya.com
Migu
CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel
CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin
Hong Kong China
Now TV
Macao China
CCTV5
Taiwan
Sportcast
Thailand
True Sport
All different territories
WST Play
Featured picture credit score: WST
