The World Snooker Championship is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest, with total prize money of £2,395,000 in 2023, including £500,000 for the winner. First held in 1927, it is now one of the three tournaments that make up snooker's Triple Crown Series. The reigning world champion is Kyren Wilson.
Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player from Ranelagh in Dublin. He is the sport's only world champion from the Republic of Ireland, having won the title in 1997, making him one of just four players from outside the United Kingdom—in addition to Cliff Thorburn from Canada, Neil Robertson from Australia, and Luca Brecel from Belgium—to have won the World Snooker Championship in the sport's modern era. He combines his ongoing playing career with regular commentary and punditry work on televised snooker broadcasts.
Joe Johnson is an English former professional snooker player and snooker commentator for Eurosport. He became the British under-19 champion in 1971 as an amateur, defeating Tony Knowles in the final. After reaching the finals of the 1978 English Amateur Championship and the 1978 World Amateur Championship, Johnson turned professional in 1979. He reached his first ranking final at the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, and reached the semi-finals of the 1985 Classic.
Terence Martin Griffiths is a Welsh retired professional snooker player and current coach and pundit. After winning several amateur titles, including the Welsh Amateur Championship in 1975 and back-to-back English Amateur Championships in 1977 and 1978, Griffiths turned professional in June 1978 at the age of 30. In his second professional tournament, he qualified for the 1979 World Snooker Championship. He reached the final of the event where he defeated Dennis Taylor by 24 frames to 16. This was only the second time a qualifier had won the World Snooker Championship, after Alex Higgins in 1972; only Shaun Murphy in 2005 has since emulated the achievement. In 1988, Griffiths again reached the final of the competition. He was tied with Steve Davis, 8–8, but lost the match 11–18.
Pierre "Perrie" Mans was a South African professional snooker player. He first won the South African Professional Championship in 1965 and lifted the title 20 times. Mans won the Benson & Hedges Masters in 1979 and reached the final of the World Championship in 1978.
Clifford Charles Devlin Thorburn is a Canadian retired professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Grinder" because of his slow, determined style of play, he won the World Snooker Championship in 1980, defeating Alex Higgins 18–16 in the final. He is generally recognised as the sport's first world champion from outside the United Kingdom—since Australian Horace Lindrum's 1952 title is usually disregarded—and he remains the only world champion from the Americas. He was runner-up in two other world championships, losing 21–25 to John Spencer in the 1977 final and 6–18 to Steve Davis in the 1983 final. At the 1983 tournament, Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break in a World Championship match, achieving the feat in his second-round encounter with Terry Griffiths.
Darren Morgan is a Welsh former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur and is considered amongst the best in the world.
Clive Harold Everton was an English-born Welsh sports commentator, journalist, author and professional snooker and English billiards player. He founded Snooker Scene magazine, which was first published in 1971, and continued as editor until September 2022. He authored over twenty books about cue sports from 1972 onwards.
The 1997 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1997. Staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
The 1981 World Snooker Championship was a ranking professional snooker tournament which took place from 7 April to 20 April 1981 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the 1981 edition of the World Snooker Championship, and was the fifth consecutive world championship to take place at the Crucible Theatre since 1977. It was sanctioned by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The total prize fund for the tournament was £75,000, of which £20,000 went to the winner.
The 1980 World Snooker Championship, officially known as the 1980 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 April to 5 May 1980 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the 1980 edition of the World Snooker Championship and was the fourth consecutive world championship to take place at the Crucible Theatre since 1977. It was authorised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The total prize fund for the tournament was £60,000, of which £15,000 went to the winner.
The 1978 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 and 29 April 1978 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the second consecutive year the tournament had been held at the venue. A qualifying competition was held at Romiley Forum, Stockport, from 27 March to 7 April. The tournament was promoted by Mike Watterson on behalf of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. It had a total prize fund of £24,000, of which £7,500 went to the champion.
The 1977 World Snooker Championship is a professional snooker tournament that took place from 18 to 30 April 1977 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. John Spencer won his third World Snooker Championship title by defeating Cliff Thorburn by 25 frames to 21 in the final. It was the first time the championship was held at the Crucible, which has remained as the venue for the Championship. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Patrick Houlihan was an English snooker player. He was born in Deptford, London.
Dennis Taylor is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He turned professional in 1972 and is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, in which he lost the first eight frames of the final to defending champion Steve Davis but recovered to win 18–17 in a duel on the last black ball. The final's conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK viewership records for any post-midnight broadcast and for any broadcast on BBC Two that still stand.
The Snooker Legends was created in 2009 by Jason Francis at Premier Stage Productions to stage events for retired and current snooker players to play exhibition matches once again in some of snooker's most iconic venues. In 2017, Snooker Legends promoted and held its first professional event the 2017 World Seniors Championship. Later in 2017 they created the World Seniors Tour for players aged 40 and above. This tour consisted of four non-ranking events in the 2017/2018 season. They introduced an invitational event in the 2021/2022 season. In early 2022 The 'Merseyside Masters' was staged in Liverpool.
David Greaves was an English former professional snooker player.
The 2018 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament, taking place at the Baths Hall in Scunthorpe, England, from 21 to 24 March 2018. Qualifying for the tournament was open to non-tour players, aged 40 and over on 1 January 2018. In addition to the winner's cheque the champion received a place in the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Snooker Championship.
The 2019 World Seniors Championship was a snooker tournament, that took place from 15 to 18 August 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the first event of the 2019–20 World Seniors Tour. It was the tenth World Seniors Championship, first held in 1991. The event had a total prize fund of £63,500 up from £18,000 the previous year, with £15,000 more for the winner, at £25,000.
Si Jiahui is a Chinese professional snooker player. After training at the Wiraka Billiard Academy in Foshan, he moved to the United Kingdom aged 16 and earned a two-year tour card through the 2019 Q School for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons. He lost his tour card after ending the 2020–21 season outside the top 64 in the world rankings, and competed as an amateur during the 2021–22 season, during which he defeated Shaun Murphy 6–5 in the first round of the 2021 UK Championship. After rejoining the professional tour at the start of the 2022–23 season, he reached his first ranking quarter-final at the 2022 European Masters.
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