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]
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Neil Robertson (AUS)
