Players Series

Last updated

Players Series
Tournament information
Location Kowloon City
Telford
Manchester
Country United Kingdom
Hong Kong
Established2019
Organisation(s) World Snooker Tour
Format3 ranking events
Total prize fund£700,000 (World Grand Prix)
£500,000 (Players & Tour Champ)
Winner's share£180,000 (World Grand Prix)
£150,000 (Players & Tour Champ)

The Players Series is a ranking bonus competition for players who have earned the most money in professional snooker tournaments within the season. [1] Established in 2019, the series includes the pre-existing World Grand Prix and Players Championship (formerly known as PTC Finals) with the addition of the Tour Championship.

Contents

Unlike traditional ranking events, qualification is based on results from the single-season list, rather than by world rankings. [2] The number of competitors for each event decreases, with 32 players participating in the Grand Prix, 16 in the Players and 12 in the Tour Championship. [3]

Overview

The series was initially sponsored by Coral and was called the Coral Cup. In the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, it was sponsored by Cazoo and named the Cazoo Series. [4] However, the sponsorship was abruptly stopped as a result of its own financial issues that led it to pull out from a number of sports sponsorship deals, including snooker. In the 2022–23 season, it was sponsored by crypto casino Duelbits as the Duelbits Series; [5] it was only announced on the day of the 2023 World Grand Prix commencing.

Since inception, all of the tournaments that made up the Players Series were played in the United Kingdom. However, beginning with the 2024–25 season, the World Grand Prix was played in Hong Kong, turning the Players Series into an international sporting series. [6]

Prize money

In the 2019–2020 season, the player who earned the most prize money across all three events in the series was awarded a prize fund of £100,000 and the "Coral Cup". Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Coral ceasing its involvement in sponsoring snooker events, the bonus was discontinued. [7] The only winner of the additional monetary bonus was Stephen Maguire, with most of the earnings coming from the Tour Championship.

For the 2021–22 season, players who lost in the first round of any of the series events received ranking points equal to their prize money. This was a change from previous incarnations where losing in the first round gave prize money only and no ranking points. However, should a player qualify for one of the events in the series, but does not play their opening match, the player receives neither prize money nor ranking points. [8] WST later confirmed that this change would also apply to the 2022–23 snooker season, and has continued to be in place for subsequent seasons. [9]

Winners

SeasonSeries winnerSeries nameRef.
2018–19 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Coral Cup [10] [11] [12]
2019–20 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)Coral Cup [13] [14] [15]
2020–21 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Cazoo Series [16] [17] [18]
2021–22 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Cazoo Series [19] [20] [21]
2022–23 Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)Duelbits Series [22] [23] [24]
2023–24 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Players Series [25] [26] [27]
2024–25 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Players Series [28] [29] [30]

Event winners

SeasonTournamentWinnerRunner-upScoreCityRefs
Coral Cup
2018–19 World Grand Prix Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Ali Carter  (ENG)10–6 Cheltenham [10]
Players Championship Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)10–4 Preston [11]
Tour Championship Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)13–11 Llandudno [12]
2019–20 World Grand Prix Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of Scotland.svg  Graeme Dott  (SCO)10–8 Cheltenham [13]
Players Championship Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Yan Bingtao  (CHN)10–4 Southport [14]
Tour Championship Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)Ulster Banner.svg  Mark Allen  (NIR)10–6 Milton Keynes [15]
Cazoo Series
2020–21 World Grand Prix Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Jack Lisowski  (ENG)10–7 Milton Keynes [16]
Players Championship Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)10–3 Milton Keynes [17]
Tour Championship Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)10–4 Newport [18]
2021–22 World Grand Prix Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)10–8 Coventry [19]
Players Championship Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of England.svg  Barry Hawkins  (ENG)10–5 Wolverhampton [20]
Tour Championship Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)10–9 Llandudno [21]
Duelbits Series
2022–23 World Grand Prix Ulster Banner.svg  Mark Allen  (NIR)Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)10–9 Cheltenham [22]
Players Championship Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Ali Carter  (ENG)10–4 Wolverhampton [23]
Tour Championship Flag of England.svg  Shaun Murphy  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Kyren Wilson  (ENG)10–7 Hull [24]
Players Series
2023–24 World Grand Prix Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)10–7 Leicester [25]
Players Championship Ulster Banner.svg  Mark Allen  (NIR)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  Zhang Anda  (CHN)10–8 Telford [26]
Tour Championship Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Mark Williams  (WAL)Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)10–5 Manchester [27]
2024–25 World Grand Prix Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)Flag of England.svg  Stuart Bingham  (ENG)10–0 Hong Kong [28]
Players Championship Flag of England.svg  Kyren Wilson  (ENG)Flag of England.svg  Judd Trump  (ENG)10–9 Telford [29]
Tour Championship Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)Flag of England.svg  Mark Selby  (ENG)10–8 Manchester [30]

Statistics

Champions

PlayerTotal World
Grand Prix 		Players
Championship 		Tour
Championship 		Winning
span
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson 52122020–2025
Flag of England.svg Ronnie O'Sullivan 42112019–2024
Flag of England.svg Judd Trump 32102019–2020
Flag of England.svg Shaun Murphy 20112023
Ulster Banner.svg Mark Allen 21102023–2024
Flag of Scotland.svg John Higgins 20112021–2025
Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire 10012020
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Mark Williams 10012024
Flag of England.svg Kyren Wilson 10102025
Total events217772019–2025

References

  1. ↑ "The Coral Series - Everything You Need to Know - WPBSA". WPBSA. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Race to the World Grand Prix - SnookerHQ". SnookerHQ. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Tour Championship Snooker 2019: Draw, schedule, betting odds, results, & TV coverage". sportinglife.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Car Retailer Cazoo to Sponsor Snooker Series". 2 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Duelbits Joins Forces With WST". World Snooker. 16 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "Hong Kong ready to host World Grand Prix". World Snooker Tour . 20 January 2025. Archived from the original on 20 February 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  7. ↑ "Coral Players Championship - World Snooker". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Cazoo Series - Ranking Points". World Snooker Tour. 14 September 2021. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "PRIZE MONEY WORLD RANKINGS SCHEDULE 2022/2023 SEASON" (PDF). World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2022.
  10. 1 2 "Trump Champion In Cheltenham – World Snooker". World Snooker. 10 February 2019. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Ronnie O'Sullivan reaches 1,000 career centuries and wins Players Championship". BBC Sport. 10 March 2019. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Snooker – O'Sullivan on top of the world after Tour Championship win". Reuters. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Dott Dashed By Five–Ton Robertson". World Snooker. 9 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Trump beats Yan Bingtao to win Players Championship". BBC Sport. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. 1 2 "Magnificent Maguire Ends Title Drought". World Snooker. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Trump Beats Lisowski To Win 20th Ranking Title". World Snooker. 20 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Higgins thrashes O'Sullivan in final". BBC Sport. 28 February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  18. 1 2 "Relentless Robertson Storms To Tour Title". World Snooker Tour. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Ronnie O'Sullivan Produces Stirring Evening Fightback To Beat Neil Robertson To Win Final". Eurosport . 19 December 2021. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  20. 1 2 "Robertson Lands Maiden Players Crown". World Snooker Tour. 13 February 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  21. 1 2 "Epic Robertson Fightback Stuns Higgins". World Snooker Tour. 4 April 2022. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  22. 1 2 "Allen Edges Trump in Epic". World Snooker Tour . 22 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023.
  23. 1 2 "Magician Back in Winners' Circle". World Snooker Tour . 26 February 2023. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023.
  24. 1 2 "Tour Triumph For Magnificent Murphy". World Snooker Tour. 2 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  25. 1 2 "O'Sullivan overturns Trump to extend trophy sequence". World Snooker Tour . 21 January 2024. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  26. 1 2 "Pistol fires to 11th ranking crown". World Snooker Tour . 26 February 2024. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  27. 1 2 "Wonderful Williams is Tour Champion". World Snooker Tour . 7 April 2024. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  28. 1 2 "Robertson whitewashes Bingham for Hong Kong crown". World Snooker Tour . 9 March 2025. Archived from the original on 9 March 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
  29. 1 2 "Wilson beats Trump in thrilling final". World Snooker Tour . 23 March 2025. Archived from the original on 24 March 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
  30. 1 2 "Higgins: My best ever win". World Snooker Tour . 6 April 2025. Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.