Champion of Champions Snooker: Information and a Potted History

Run by Matchroom Multi Sport, the Champion of Champions is a lucrative 16-player invitational event (non-ranking) that replaced the long-running Premier League that the organisation also used to promote. 

Players qualify for the Champion of Champions by winning a professional event on the World Snooker Tour. This qualification period runs from and includes the previous year’s Champion of Champions event. 

In the past, the World Championship runner-up has also been invited, as have the winners of the World Seniors and World Women’s Championships. 

On several occasions, there haven’t been enough different individual champions from the qualification cycle to fill the 16 slots, therefore the highest ranked players from the world ranking list (who haven’t already qualified) are invited. Mark Allen won the 2020 edition despite not qualifying as a reigning champion. 

Due to the elite field, format, coverage and prize money on offer, the competition has become very popular amongst players and fans. 

Venues in Coventry, Milton Keynes and Bolton have hosted the Champion of Champions. 

There was a Champion of Champions professional event in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Ray Reardon won the first edition (which featured four players) and Doug Mountjoy triumphed in the second in 1980 (featuring ten players and a groups phase).

Champion of Champions Snooker: Tournament Format 

Although the Champion of Champions is essentially a traditional 16-player knockout event, it does feature a unique format/schedule. 

Quarters of the draw (often referred to as groups in this event) are completed in a day with two opening round matches played in the afternoon followed by a ‘group final’ (quarter-final) encounter in the evening. The four ‘group’ winners then come together for the semi-finals towards the end of the week. 

The length of matches throughout the Champion of Champions have remained constant since its 2013 introduction with the opening round being the best of seven frames, the quarter and semi-finals the best of 11, and the multi-session final being the best of 19.

Champion of Champions Snooker: Most successful players, stats, stories, best finals 

Ronnie O’Sullivan has thrived in the Champion of Champions environment and is comfortably the competition’s most successful player. 

From his nine appearances in the event to date (he qualified for all 11 editions) O’Sullivan has lifted the trophy four times and been the runner-up twice. He has never lost in the opening round and is the only player to successfully defend the title. During his first five Champion of Champions outings, ‘The Rocket’ reached the final on each occasion. 

Neil Robertson and Mark Allen are the other multiple-time CoC winners (two titles each); John Higgins, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump are one-time champions. 

O’Sullivan won the opening two years of the tournament in 2013 and 2014. In the latter, he registered four century breaks against Trump in the final. 

In 2016, Higgins stopped O’Sullivan’s 11-match winning streak in the event with a 10-7 victory in the final. 

Following final losses to Higgins and Murphy, O’Sullivan recaptured the title in 2018 when he ousted Kyren Wilson 10-9 in the first Champion of Champions final to go the distance. O’Sullivan compiled a 110 break in the decider, his 11th century of the week. 

One of professional snooker’s greatest finals was seen at the end of the 2019 installment. Having eliminated Murphy and then O’Sullivan via deciding frames in the previous two rounds, Robertson ousted Trump 10-9 in the final – having needed penalty points when 8-9 down – to score his second CoC triumph. In an outstanding duel with some of the highest quality, Robertson crafted five centuries to Trump’s three, including a 137 in the deciding frame. 

Behind closed doors in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Allen got revenge for his final loss to Robertson five years earlier by turning the tables in the title match, making four centuries during the tie. Allen eliminated the world’s top three ranked players in consecutive rounds en route to the top prize. 

Trump, who has made the Champion of Champions final on five occasions, finally got his hands on the silverware in 2021. The Englishman took a remarkable 16-frame winning streak into the final but went 3-0 down to Higgins in the title match. However, Trump produced another burst, chalking up 10 of the next 11 frames for glory. 

O'Sullivan and Allen again tasted Champion of Champions success in 2022 and 2023, respectively, both defeating Trump in the title match. 

Allen’s 10-3 win featured the largest winning margin in a Champion of Champions final. 

Champion of Champions Snooker: Roll of Honour, Locations and Winner's Prize Money

2013: Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-8 Stuart Bingham (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2014: Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7 Judd Trump (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2015: Neil Robertson 10-5 Mark Allen (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2016: John Higgins 10-7 Ronnie O’Sullivan (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2017: Shaun Murphy 10-8 Ronnie O’Sullivan (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2018: Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 Kyren Wilson (Coventry, England) | £100,000

2019: Neil Robertson 10-9 Judd Trump (Coventry, England) | £150,000

2020: Mark Allen 10-6 Neil Robertson (Milton Keynes, England) | £150,000

2021: Judd Trump 10-4 John Higgins (Bolton, England) | £150,000

2022: Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-6 Judd Trump (Bolton, England) | £150,000

2023: Mark Allen 10-3 Judd Trump (Bolton, England) | £150,000

Champion of Champions Snooker 147 Breaks 

2018: Mark Selby 

2022: Judd Trump 

Two maximum 147 breaks have been made in the Champion of Champions. 

Mark Selby compiled the first during his 4-3 opening round loss to Neil Robertson in 2018. 

The second was also made by a player who would go on to lose their match; Judd Trump in the 2022 final against Ronnie O’Sullivan.