🎱 World Snooker Championship Preview and Form

World Championship Format

The World Championship has been played at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield since 1977.

The top 16 players in the World Rankings automatically play in the tournament at The Crucible and are seeded 1-16. The reigning champion is always the number one seed. The remaining sixteen spots are up for grabs in a qualifying tournament that is played shortly before the main event. 

Once the 32 players are known the sixteen qualifiers are drawn at random to play each of the sixteen seeds.

Each of the qualifiers has to win up to four matches to make it to the first round proper at The Crucible. The first three rounds of qualifying matches are played over the best of eleven frames. The final qualifying round, also known as 'Judgement Day', is played over nineteen frames.

OLBG's expert snooker tipsters will have tips on all the matches at The Crucible. 

Once the action makes it to The Crucible the number of frames played in each round is as follows:

• Round 1: Best of 19 frames
• Round 2: Best of 25 frames
• Quarter-Finals: Best of 25 frames
• Semi-Finals: Best of 33 frames
• Final: Best of 35 frames

Don't forget that we have a special, extra £200 competition for the World Snooker Championship. Full details can be found below.

Last ten winners of the snooker world championship

Top Tip: Fifteen of the last nineteen winners of the World Championship had played in at least one previous World Championship Final.

World Championship Snooker 2026: Draw and Results

The World Snooker Championship 2026 begins at The Crucible on Saturday 18th April:

Round One - Best of nineteen frames (seeds in brackets):

Six seeds lost out in the first round this year following on from eight seeds losing in round one last year

• Zhao Xintong (1) v Liam Highfield (90) 10-7
• Ding Junhui (16) v David Gilbert (25) 10-6
• Xiao Guodong (9) v Zhou Yuelong (24) 10-6
• Shaun Murphy (8) v Fan Zhengyi (63) 10-9
• John Higgins (5) v Ali Carter (23) 10-7
• Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) v He Guoqiang (47) 10-2
• Chris Wakelin (13) v Liam Pullen (84) 10-6
• Neil Robertson (4) v Pang Junxu (29)
• Kyren Wilson (3) v Stan Moody (44) 10-7
• Mark Allen (14) v Zhang Anda (22) 10-6
• Barry Hawkins (11) v Matthew Stevens (48) 10-4
• Mark Williams (6) v Antoni Kowalski (69) 10-4
• Mark Selby (7) v Jak Jones (19) 10-2
• Wu Yize (14) v Lei Peifan (84) 10-2
• Si Jiahui (15) v Hossein Vafaei (32) 3-10
• Judd Trump (2) v Gary Wilson (27) 10-5

World Championship wins by players who have played at the Crucible

World Championship 2025: Ten year Crucible form of the top eight seeds

Major tournament winners 2025-2026 season

Below is a table of all the tournament winners and runners-up for this season:

What score has occured the most in the World Snooker Final?

World Championship highest break at The Crucible in the last 10 years

• 2025 = 147 Mark Allen (Jackson Page made TWO maximums in qualifying)
• 2024 = 142 Jackson Page, Ricky Walden and Mark Williams (Noppon Saengkham made a 147 in qualifying)
• 2023 = 147 Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby
• 2022 = 147 Neil Robertson
• 2021 = 144 Shaun Murphy
• 2020 = 147 John Higgins
• 2019 = 143 John Higgins
• 2018 = 146 John Higgins
• 2017 = 146 Ronnie O’Sullivan
• 2016 = 143 Kyren Wilson
• 2015 = 145 Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson

Sure to be popular in the highest break market will be John Higgins who made the highest break for three of the last six years including a maximum in 2020.

147 breaks at The Crucible

One of the most iconic moments in the history of the world championship at The Crucible is when Cliff Thorburn made the first 147 break at the venue. The break began with an outrageous fluke, but the rest of the break was perfection and the elation Thorburn displays when potting the final black is pure theatre.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has made three of the twelve maximum breaks to be achieved at The Crucible, but it is his first 147 in 1997 that stands out as he made the complete clearance in an amazing five minutes and twenty seconds!

The latest 147 break to be made in Sheffield was in 2025 when Mark Allen became the first player to make a maximum in all three Triple Crown events.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has recorded an amazing fifteen 147 breaks in his career to date (seven more than anyone still playing) so the six-time World Champion is likely to be the favourite to record a maximum again this year.

Do you think there will be another maximum break in the World Championships in 2025?  If so why not check out our guide to the best bookmakers for snooker odds?

Number of century breaks at The Crucible in the World Snooker Championship in the last ten years

World Championship Snooker 2025: Draw and Results

The World Snooker Championship 2025 begins at The Crucible on Saturday 19th April:

Round One - Best of nineteen frames (seeds in brackets):

Six seeds lost out in the first round this year following on from eight seeds losing in round one last year

Kyren Wilson (1) v Lei Peifan 9-10

Jak Jones (16) v Zhao Xintong 4-10

Neil Robertson (9) v Chris Wakelin 8-10

Mark Allen (8) v Fan Zhengyi 10-6

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) v Ali Carter 10-4

Zhang Anda (12) v Pang Junxu 7-10

Si Jiahui (13) v David Gilbert 10-6

Mark Selby (4) v Ben Woollaston 8-10

John Higgins (3) v Joe O'Connor 10-7

Xiao Guodong (14) v Matt Selt 10-4

Barry Hawkins (11) v Hossein Vafaei 9-10

Mark Williams (6) v Wu Yize 10-8

Luca Brecel (7) v Ryan Day 10-7

Ding Junhui (10) v Zak Surety 10-7

Shaun Murphy (15) v Daniel Wells 10-4

Judd Trump (2) v Zhou Yuelong 10-4

World Championship Snooker 2024: Draw and Results

The World Snooker Championship 2024 begins at The Crucible on Saturday 20th April:

'Judgement Day' Qualifiers: Jack Lisowski, Stephen Maguire, Jak Jones, Stuart Bingham, Lyu Haotian, Dominic Dale, Robbie Williams, Ricky Walden, David Gilbert, Pang Junxu, Joe O'Connor, Jamie Jones, Hossein Vafaei, Si Jiahui, Ryan Day and Jackson Page.

Former World Champion Neil Robertson will not play at The Crucible for the first time in twenty years after losing out 10-9 to Jamie Jones in the final qualifying round.

Round One - Best of nineteen frames (seeds in brackets):

Luca Brecel (1) v David Gilbert 9-10

Robert Milkins (16) v Pang Junxu 10-9

Ali Carter (9) v Stephen Maguire 7-10

Shaun Murphy (8) v Lyu Haotian 10-5

Mark Selby (5) v Joe O'Connor 6-10

Kyren Wilson (12) v Dominic Dale 10-1

John Higgins (13) v Jamie Jones

Mark Allen (4) v Robbie Williams 10-6

Judd Trump (3) v Hossein Vafaei 10-5

Tom Ford (14) v Ricky Walden 10-6

Zhang Anda (11) v Jak Jones 4-10

Mark Williams (6) v Si Jiahui 9-10

Ding Junhui (7) v Jack Lisowski 9-10

Gary Wilson (10) v Stuart Bingham 5-10

Barry Hawkins (15) v Ryan Day 9-10

Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) v Jackson Page 10-1

Draw from 2nd round onwards:

World Championship 2023: Results

Round 1 - Best of 19 frames 

Seeds in brackets

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1) 10 v Pang Junxu 7

Ding Junhui (16) 6 v Hossein Vafaei 10

Luca Brecel (9) 10  v Ricky Walden 9

Mark Williams (8) 10 v Jimmy Robertson 5

Judd Trump (5) 6 v Anthony McGill 10

Jack Lisowski (12) 10 v Noppon Saengkham 7

Robert Milkins (13) 10 v Joe Perry 9

Shaun Murphy (4) 9 v Si Jiahui 10

Mark Allen (3) 10 v Fan Zhengyi 5

Stuart Bingham (14) 10 v David Gilbert 4

Ali Carter (11) 6 v Jak Jones 10

Neil Robertson (6) 10 v Wu Yize 3

Kyren Wilson (7) 10 v Ryan Day 5

John Higgins (10) 10 v David Grace 3

Gary Wilson (15) 10 v Elliot Slessor 8

Mark Selby (2) 10 v Matthew Selt 8

Remember to check out OLBG's top Snooker tipsters