| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Established | 2019 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Ranking events |
| Current champion |  Shaun Murphy (ENG) |
The Players Series is a bonus competition for players who have earned the most money in a series of professional snooker tournaments. [1] The series involves three events: the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship. It was established in 2019.
In the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, the series was 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. In the 2022–23 season, it was sponsored by crypto casino Duelbits and named the Duelbits Series. [2] With the exception of the 2019–20 season, there has been no monetary bonus for earning the most money over the three events: the only winner of an additional monetary bonus was Stephen Maguire, who gained £100,000 for earning the most money in the series, most of the earnings having come from winning the 2020 Tour Championship, the highest earning event in the series.
Unlike traditional ranking events, qualification is based on results from the single-season list, rather than by world rankings. [3] The number of competitors for each event shortens, with 32 players participating in the Grand Prix, 16 in the Players Championship, and 12 (previously eight) in the Tour Championship. [4] The series was sponsored and named after betting company Coral, until 2021, when car retailer Cazoo took over sponsorship. [5] Their sponsorship of the Players' Series was abruptly stopped in the 2022–23 snooker season, as a result of its own financial issues that led it to pull out from a number of other sponsorships in other sports, including snooker. In its place, Duelbits was selected to sponsor the Players' Series for that season, which was announced on the day of the 2023 World Grand Prix commencing.
In the 2019–2020 snooker 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. [6]
For the 2021–22 season, players who lose in the first round of any of the Cazoo Series events receive ranking points equalling their prize money. This is 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. [7] WST later confirmed that this change would apply to the 2022–23 snooker season. [8]
| Season | Cup winner | Series name | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) | Coral Cup | [9] [10] [11] |
| 2019–20 |  Stephen Maguire (SCO) | Coral Cup | [12] [13] [14] |
| 2020–21 |  Neil Robertson (AUS) | Cazoo Series | [15] [16] [17] |
| 2021–22 | Neil Robertson (AUS) | Cazoo Series | [18] [19] [20] |
| 2022–23 | Shaun Murphy (ENG) | Duelbits Series | [21] [22] [23] |
| 2023–24 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| Player | Total | World Grand Prix | Players Championship | Tour Championship | Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neil Robertson | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2020–2022 |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2019–2024 |
| Judd Trump | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2019–2020 |
| Shaun Murphy | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
 Mark Allen | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2023–2024 |
| Stephen Maguire | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2020 |
| John Higgins | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2021 |
 Mark Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2024 |
| Total events | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2019–2024 |
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the tournament a record eight times, followed by Steve Davis with six titles and Stephen Hendry with five. O'Sullivan is the reigning champion, winning his eighth title in 2023.
The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament that has been held annually since 1992. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which ran annually from 1980 to 1991 and was open only to Welsh players. The Welsh Open is now the longest running ranking event after the World Championship and the UK Championship. Since the 2016–17 season, it has been one of four tournaments in the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the English Open. Since 2017, the winner of the event has received the Ray Reardon Trophy, named after the Welsh six-time world champion. Reardon himself presented the newly named trophy to 2017 winner Stuart Bingham.
The Triple Crown in professional snooker refers to winning the sport's three longest-running and most prestigious tournaments: the World Snooker Championship, the invitational Masters, and the UK Championship. In January 2020, the three tournaments were formally named the Triple Crown Series.
The Champion of Champions is a professional non-ranking snooker tournament. It was held in 1978 and 1980 and was then revived in 2013 by Matchroom Sport. The reigning champion is Mark Allen, who won the title for the second time in 2023.
The Players Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. Held as the Players Tour Championship Finals from 2011 to 2016, it was rebranded as the standalone Players Championship in 2017. One of three events in the Players Series, it features the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list. Mark Allen is the reigning champion, having won the 2024 event.
The World Grand Prix is a professional ranking snooker tournament restricted to the top 32 players on the one-year ranking list. The inaugural edition was played in 2015 at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. The reigning champion is Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The Tour Championship is a professional snooker tournament first held in 2019. The event features the twelve highest ranked players on the one-year ranking list, which reflects prize money won at ranking events since the beginning of the season. The Tour Championship is the third and final tournament in the Players Series, following the World Grand Prix and the Players Championship. The event features a prize fund of £380,000, with the winner receiving £150,000. The tournament is broadcast by ITV Sport in the United Kingdom and Eurosport across the rest of Europe. The reigning champion is Mark Williams, who won the 2024 Tour Championship with a 10–5 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final.
The 2019 Tour Championship was a professional snooker ranking tournament that took place from 19 to 24 March 2019 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. Organised by World Snooker, it was the first edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the inaugural Coral Cup. It was the eighteenth ranking event of the 2018–19 snooker season.
The 2019–20 snooker season was a series of professional snooker tournaments played between 9 May 2019 and 22 August 2020. In total, 47 events were held during the season: however, the ending of the season was highly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 18 world ranking tournaments were planned to take place, but only 17 were played. An event was held in Austria, the first time in any snooker season, while the 2020 China Open was cancelled. The Tour Championship and the World Snooker Championship were postponed, and the Gibraltar Open played with no audience. The season contained 128 professional tour players, 35 of which had been given new two-year places on the tour from a combination of invitations and qualifying events.
The 2020 Players Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 24 February to 1 March 2020 at the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre in Southport, England. It was the 14th ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season and the second leg of the Coral Series. The tenth edition of the Players Championship, first held in 2011, the event was sponsored by sports betting company Coral, and broadcast on ITV4 in the United Kingdom, and Eurosport across Europe. The event featured 16 participants chosen from players who were the highest earners from the prior 13 ranking tournaments.
The 2020 Tour Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 to 26 June 2020, at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the second edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the second season of the Coral Cup. It was the 16th and penultimate ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the Gibraltar Open and preceding the World Championship. The tournament was originally scheduled for 17 to 22 March 2020, but on the morning of 17 March the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following advice from the UK government, it had been decided that no spectators would be permitted at the event.
The 2021 Players Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament, that took place from 22 to 28 February 2021 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. It was the 11th ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season.
The 2021 Tour Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 28 March 2021 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the third edition of the Tour Championship and the third and final event of the third season of the Cazoo Cup. It was the 14th and penultimate ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season, following the conclusion of the WST Pro Series and preceding the World Championship.
The 2022 Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 9 to 16 January 2022 at Alexandra Palace in London, England. It was the 48th staging of the Masters tournament, which was first held in 1975, and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2021–22 snooker season, following the 2021 UK Championship and preceding the 2022 World Snooker Championship. Broadcast by the BBC and Eurosport in Europe, it was sponsored for the first time by car retailer Cazoo.
The 2022 Tour Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 28 March to 3 April 2022 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it comprised the top eight players on the one-year ranking list. It was the fourth edition of the Tour Championship, first held in 2019, and the 15th and penultimate ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, following the Gibraltar Open and preceding the World Championship. It was the third and final event of the season's Cazoo Series, following the Players Championship and the World Grand Prix. Broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, the event featured a prize fund of £370,000, of which the winner received £150,000.
The 2021 World Grand Prix was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 13 to 19 December 2021 at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry, England. The event was the first of three events to make up the Cazoo Cup in the 2021–22 snooker season.
The 2022 Players Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 7 to 13 February 2022 at Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, England. It was the tenth ranking event of the 2021–22 season, and the second event of the Cazoo Cup, following the World Grand Prix and preceding the Tour Championship. It featured the top 16 ranked players on the one-year ranking list. The event was broadcast by ITV4 in the United Kingdom, and Eurosport in the rest of Europe.
The sport of professional snooker has had a world ranking system in place since 1976. Certain tournaments were given "ranking" status, with the results at those events contributing to a player's world ranking. The events that made up the 1976–77 snooker season were the first to award players with ranking points. Originally, the world rankings were decided based only on results in the World Snooker Championship, but other events were later added. The system used for the 2022–23 snooker season was first used in the 2010–11 season, where players won ranking points based entirely on prize money won from these events. The rankings are based on the prior two seasons, with eight revisions after specific tournaments throughout the season. These revisions are used as official rankings, with points awarded in the current season overwriting those from two years prior.
The 2023 World Grand Prix was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 22 January 2023 at The Centaur in Cheltenham, England. The eighth ranking event of the 2022–23 snooker season, it preceded the 2023 Players Championship and the 2023 Tour Championship as the first of three events in the Players Series. Sponsored for the first time by cryptocurrency casino Duelbits, the tournament was broadcast by ITV domestically, by Eurosport in Europe, and by Matchroom Sport and other broadcasters internationally. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £380,000.
The 2023 Players Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 to 26 February 2023 at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, England. The 12th ranking event of the 2022–23 season, it was the second event in the Players Series, following the World Grand Prix and preceding the Tour Championship. Featuring the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list as it stood after the 2023 Welsh Open, the event was broadcast by ITV Sport in the United Kingdom, by Eurosport in Europe, and by multiple other broadcasters internationally. The winner received £125,000 from a total prize fund of £385,000.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Active professional snooker tournaments | |
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