Championship League Snooker Invitational: Information and a Potted History

Created and run by Matchroom Sport, the tournament offered players further competitive opportunities at a time when the snooker’s professional body was struggling to fill the calendar with events before Barry Hearn and his team revitalised the sport from 2010. 

The first five editions of Championship League Snooker provided a spot in the subsequent Premier League. Since 2013 onwards, it is now a qualification pathway for the Champion of Champions, the event that effectively replaced the Premier League on the circuit. 

A non-ranking event that initially invites 25 players, the Championship League is played without a live audience in attendance. 

The competition has always been held in England with venues in Stock, Coventry, Barnsley, Leicester and Milton Keynes hosting. 

There was an unexpected additional Championship League Snooker Invitational edition in the summer of 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

After the professional circuit was halted a few months earlier, top flight snooker returned with the Championship League in a ‘bubble environment’ at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. 

This one-off variation saw 64 players compete across three different phases that began with 16 round robin groups of four. 

Those group winners were then split into four round robin groups of four, and all four table toppers from that phase met in the concluding final group. Luca Brecel won this event. 

Please note, the invitational version of Championship League Snooker is different to the ranked variation that has been on the calendar since 2020. 

Championship League Snooker Invitational: What is the Format? 

There are seven round robin groups with seven players in each group. The tournament starts with Group 1.

In each group, all players face each other in best of five frames matches. After all the matches are completed, the top four players go into the group playoffs where there are two knockout semi-finals, followed by a final. 

The winner of this final advances to the seven-player Winners’ Group at the conclusion of the tournament. 

The playoff runner-up, semi-finalists and fifth placed player in the group all remain in the competition, and all return for the next group. The players who finish sixth and seventh in the group table are eliminated from that year’s event altogether. 

This process is continually repeated, although in group seven, everyone except the playoff final winner completely exits the tournament. 

This leaves seven players for the concluding winners’ group where the overall champion is crowned. The same format is used for this group, with the playoff final being the grand final. 

In addition to prize money for getting into the playoffs, there are bonuses for every frame a player wins and the highest break in each group. These prizes are increased for the winners’ group.

Championship League Snooker Invitational: Most successful players, stats, stories, best finals 

John Higgins is the most decorated player in Championship League Snooker Invitational history with a record four titles. 

Higgins is the only player to successfully defend the title, a feat he has achieved twice (2017 & 2018, 2022 & 2023). 

Judd Trump has reached the most Championship League Snooker Invitational grand finals with five; winning three and losing two.  

Martin Gould is the other multiple-time champion of the event, with two triumphs. 

In the 2020/21 season, Kyren Wilson completed a unique double by winning the ranked and invitational versions of Championship League Snooker. No one else has achieved this feat. 

Championship League Snooker Invitational: Roll of Honour, Locations 

2008: Joe Perry 3-1 Mark Selby (Stock, England)

2009: Judd Trump 3-2 Mark Selby (Stock, England)

2010: Marco Fu 3-2 Mark Allen (Stock, England)

2011: Matthew Stevens 3-1 Shaun Murphy (Stock, England)

2012: Ding Junhui 3-1 Judd Trump (Stock, England)

2013: Martin Gould 3-2 Ali Carter (Stock, England)

2014: Judd Trump 3-1 Martin Gould (Stock, England)

2015: Stuart Bingham 3-2 Mark Davis (Stock, England)

2016: Judd Trump 3-2 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Stock, England)

2017: John Higgins 3-0 Ryan Day (Coventry, England)

2018: John Higgins 3-2 Zhou Yuelong (Coventry, England)

2019: Martin Gould 3-1 Jack Lisowski (Coventry and Barnsley, England)

2020: Scott Donaldson 3-0 Graeme Dott (Leicester, England)

2020(June): Luca Brecel - group winner, Ben Woollaston - group runner-up (Milton Keynes, England)

2021: Kyren Wilson 3-2 Mark Williams (Milton Keynes, England)

2022: John Higgins 3-2 Stuart Bingham (Leicester, England)

2023: John Higgins 3-1 Judd Trump (Leicester, England)

2024: Mark Selby 3-1 Joe O'Connor (Leicester, England) 

Championship League Snooker Invitational 147 Breaks 

• 2014: Shaun Murphy 

• 2015: Barry Hawkins, David Gilbert 

• 2016: Fergal O'Brien 

• 2017: Mark Davis (twice) 

• 2018: Martin Gould, Luca Brecel 

• 2019: David Gilbert 

• 2021: Stuart Bingham 

• 2024: Kyren Wilson, John Higgins, Joe O'Connor 

(Players in bold denotes it was their first 147 in professional competition)

Several special 147 milestones have been achieved in the Championship League Snooker Invitational. 

Mark Davis created snooker history at the 2017 installment when he became the first player to compile more than one maximum 147 break within the same event. 

David Gilbert’s 147 in 2019 was the 147th in professional competition; Joe O’Connor’s was the 200th.