Horse Racing, greyhounds and snooker specialist with thirty years experience of writing about sport across multiple platforms. A QPR and Snooker fan
Players Championship 2025: Format and Prize Fund
The Players Championship will be played at the Telford International Centre between the 17th and 23rd of March.
The event is the second leg of the bonus Players Series which features the top players on the one-year ranking list. The other two tournaments in this series are the World Grand Prix (won this season by Neil Robertson) and the Tour Championship, which was won last season by Shaun Murphy.
The Players Championship will feature the top sixteen players in the one-year ranking list after the World Grand Prix.
The first three rounds of the event are played over eleven frames. The final is played over two sessions and consists of nineteen frames.
The Players Championship has a total prize fund of £500,000, an increase of £115,000 on last year:
- Winner: £150,000
- Runner-up: £75,000
- Semi-final: £35,000
- Quarter-final: £20,000
- Last sixteen: £15,000
- Highest break: £10,000
OLBG's expert snooker tipsters will have tips on all the matches at The Players Championship.
Players Championship 2025: Draw and Results
Quarter-finals - Best of eleven frames:
Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy
Xiao Guodong v John Higgins
Neil Robertson v Mark Selby
Kyren Wilson v Mark Williams 6-3
First Round Draw - Best of eleven frames (player ranking in brackets):
Judd Trump (1) v Lei Peifan (16) 6-2
Barry Hawkins (8) v Shaun Murphy (9) 4-6
Xiao Guodong (5) v Wu Yize (12) 6-5
John Higgins (4) v Chris Wakelin (13) 6-5
Neil Robertson (3) v Stuart Bingham (14) 6-4
Mark Selby (6) v Si Jiahui (11) 6-3
Mark Williams (7) v Ding Junhui (10) 6-2
Kyren Wilson (2) v Mark Allen (15) 6-3
Players Championship: One-year ranking list
The Players Championship features the top sixteen players on the one-year ranking list.
Players receive points based on their performance in the previous events in the 24/25 season.
Not sure which bookmaker to have your Players Championship be with? Why not check out our guide to the best bookmakers for snooker odds?
Below is the final one-year points list after the completion of the World Grand Prix:
| Current Rating | Player | Points this season | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Judd Trump | 993,200 | |
| 2. | Kyren Wilson | 541,800 | |
| 3. | Neil Robertson | 407,050 | |
| 4. | John Higgins | 333,750 | |
| 5. | Xiao Guodong | 306,500 | |
| 6. | Mark Selby | 285,000 | |
| 7. | Mark Williams | 265,000 | |
| 8. | Barry Hawkins | 261,550 | |
| 9. | Shaun Murphy | 257,900 | |
| 10. | Ding Junhui | 235,000 | |
| 11. | Si Jiahui | 219,200 | |
| 12. | Wu Yize | 205,600 | |
| 13. | Chris Wakelin | 194,400 | |
| 14. | Stuart Bingham | 169,400 | |
| 15. | Mark Allen | 163,400 | |
| 16. | Lei Peifan | 161,000 |
Some notable missing names from the field for this season's Players Championship, most notably Ronnie O'Sullivan who hasn't played on the tour since pulling out midway through the Championship League in early January. Other notable players who didn't make the cut are Luca Brecel, Jack Lisowski, Gary Wilson and Ali Carter.
Players Championship: The tournaments that made up the rankings for this event are listed below
| Tournament and date | Winner + points won | Runner-up + points won | Semi-Finalists + points won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Championship League Jun/July 24 | Ali Carter 33,000 | Jackson Page 23,000 | Scott Donaldson David Gilbert 11,000 |
| Xian Grand Prix August 24 | Kyren Wilson 177,000 | Judd Trump 76,000 | Ronnie O'Sullivan Daniel Wells 34,500 |
| Saudi Arabia Masters Aug/Sep 24 | Judd Trump 500,000 | Mark Williams 200,000 | Shaun Murphy Si Jiahui 100,000 |
| English Open Sep 24 | Neil Robertson 100,000 | Wu Yize 45,000 | Chris Wakelin Ishpreet Sing Chadha 21,000 |
| British Open Sep 24 | Mark Selby 100,000 | John Higgins 45,000 | Mark Allen Oliver Lines 20,000 |
| Wuhan Open Oct 24 | Xiao Guodong 140,000 | Si Jiahui 63,000 | Long Zehuang Judd Trump 30,000 |
| Northern Ireland Open Oct 24 | Kyren Wilson 100,000 | Judd Trump 45,000 | Pang Junxu Elliot Slessor 21,000 |
| International Championship Nov 24 | Ding Junhui 175,000 | Chris Wakelin 75,000 | Xu SI Xiao Guodong 33,000 |
| UK Championship Nov/Dec 24 | Judd Trump 250,000 | Barry Hawkins 100,000 | Kyren Wilson Mark Allen 50,000 |
| Shoot-Out Dec 24 | Tom Ford 50,000 | Liam Graham 20,000 | Wu Yize Mark Selby 8,000 |
| Scottish Open Dec 24 | Lei Peifan 100,000 | Wu Yize 45,000 | Mark Allen Xiao Guodong 21,000 |
| German Masters Jan/Feb 25 | Kyren Wilson 100,000 | Barry Hawkins 45,000 | Xiao Guodong Yuan Sijun 21,000 |
| Welsh Open Feb 25 | Mark Selby 100,000 | Stephen Maguire 45,000 | Luca Brecel Ali Carter 21,000 |
| World Grand Prix March 25 | Neil Robertson 180,000 | Stuart Bingham 80,000 | Judd Trump Shaun Murphy 35,000 |
Players Championship: Previous Winners
The Players Championship has yet to establish a permanent home with ten different venues used in the event’s fourteen-year history.
There have been ten different winners of the Players Championship with Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan all winning the event twice. Murphy won the first renewal of this event in 2011 and also won the latest version in 2023 but has failed to qualify for 2024.
Details of all the previous winners, runners-up, final score and venue can be found below:
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mark Allen | Zhang Anda | 10-8 | Telford International Centre |
| 2023 | Shaun Murphy | Ali Carter | 10-4 | Aldersley Leisure Village Wolverhampton |
| 2022 | Neil Robertson | Barry Hawkins | 10-5 | Aldersley Leisure Village Wolverhampton |
| 2021 | John Higgins | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 10-3 | Marshall Arena Milton Keynes |
| 2020 | Judd Trump | Yan Bingtao | 10-4 | Southport Theatre |
| 2019 | Ronnie O'Sullivan | Neil Robertson | 10-4 | Preston Guild Hall |
| 2018 | Ronnie O'Sullivan | Shaun Murphy | 10-4 | Venue Cymru Llandudno |
| 2017 | Judd Trump | Marco Fu | 10-8 | Venue Cymru Llandudno |
| 2016 | Mark Allen | Ricky Walden | 10-6 | Event City Manchester |
| 2015 | Joe Perry | Mark Williams | 4-3 | Montien Riverside Hotel Bangkok |
| 2014 | Barry Hawkins | Gerard Greene | 4-0 | Preston Guild Hall |
| 2013 | Ding Junhui | Neil Robertson | 4-3 | Bailey Allen Hall Galway |
| 2012 | Stephen Lee | Neil Robertson | 4-0 | Bailey Allen Hall Galway |
| 2011 | Shaun Murphy | Martin Gould | 4-0 | The Helix Dublin |
Remember to check out OLBG's top Snooker tipsters
Players Championship: Highest Break winners
Below is a table outlining the high break winners from all of the Players Championship events where the final was played over nineteen frames:
| Year | Player | High Break |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Mark Allen | 146 |
| 2023 | Shaun Murphy | 145 |
| 2022 | Kyren Wilson | 141 |
| 2021 | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 144 |
| 2020 | Neil Robertson | 140 |
| 2019 | Neil Robertson | 140 |
| 2018 | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 143 |
| 2017 | Judd Trump | 136 |
| 2016 | Ding Junhui | 143 |
The players in bold also won the tournament.
Players Championship 2024: Draw and Results
Mark Allen added his eleventh ranking event victory when taking the Players Championship in a hard-fought victory over Zhang Anda, 10-8.
Allen is up to number three on the world rankings and was winning his seventh major event in the last three seasons.
The full draw and results from the Players Championship are listed below:
Final - Best of nineteen frames:
Mark Allen v Zhang Anda 10-8
Semi-Finals - Best of eleven frames:
Mark Allen v Ali Carter 6-3
Mark Selby v Zhang Anda 5-6
Quarter Finals - Best of eleven frames:
Judd Trump v Ali Carter 4-6
Mark Allen v Gary Wilson 6-4
Zhang Anda v John Higgins 6-4
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Selby 0-6
First Round - Best of eleven frames:
Judd Trump v Chris Wakelin 6-2
Tom Ford v Ali Carter 2-6
Mark Williams v Mark Allen 3-6
Gary Wilson v Hossein Vafaei 6-4
Zhang Anda v Noppon Saengkham
Ding Junhui v John Higgins 4-6
Barry Hawkins v Mark Selby
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Zhou Yuelong 6-2
