Ronnie O'Sullivan in danger of missing out on Champion of Champions and breaking 100% qualification streak

O’Sullivan begins the new 2025/26 World Snooker Tour campaign as the world number five, but with the sport’s rankings working on a two-year rolling system, he has big chunks of prize money points to defend across the next several months.

Two seasons ago - even by his own ridiculously high standards - ‘The Rocket’ enjoyed a golden spell by winning two ranking events (2023 UK Championship, 2024 World Grand Prix) and three lucrative invitationals (2023 Shanghai Masters, 2024 Masters, 2024 World Masters of Snooker).

Those two ranking tournament triumphs - the 40th and 41st of his record-breaking career - earned him a total of £350,000, points that are due to be removed from his cumulative ranking points total when those events come around again this season.

On this season’s provisional ranking list, O’Sullivan is projected 17th in the ‘Race to the Crucible’. If he were to stay there after the 2026 Tour Championship (the penultimate event of the term), he would have to qualify for the World Championship for the first time since 1994.

Of course, one big win or a few deep runs before then could solve this, so it’s not panic stations just yet; he hadn’t played competitively for three months when he turned up to the Crucible in April, but he still managed to reach the semi-finals where he lost to eventual world champion Zhao Xintong.

However, a more pressing concern for O’Sullivan is a place in this year’s Champion of Champions which takes place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester between November 10-16.

O’Sullivan is the record four-time winner of the very popular competition (and has made two further finals), and he has always qualified (although not always elected to play in) for the annual event ever since its introduction on to the professional circuit in its current guise in 2013.

How does qualifying for the Champion of Champions work, and who has already made the 2025 event?

Run by Matchroom Sport, the Champion of Champions snooker invitational features 16 players in a straight knockout draw, although sections - sometimes referred to as ‘groups’ - of the draw are completed during the opening four days of the event.

As the name of the tournament suggests, the champions of big snooker events from across the past 12 months are invited to the one-table spectacular. However, there can only be 16 players in it, which means some recent title winners could miss out.

The qualification criteria for 2025’s edition has yet to be released, but we already have a good idea of who will be there with the sport’s biggest events taking precedence.

The eligibility cycle begins with last year’s event, meaning reigning champion Mark Williams is in. Prior to his title success in 2024, Williams had never won a match in the competition before.

World number one Judd Trump will surely be in for winning the UK Championship, while current world number two Kyren Wilson holds both the German Masters and Players Championship titles.

Two other players may double qualify: Mark Selby (Championship League Invitational, Welsh Open) and John Higgins (World Open, Tour Championship).

Reigning Masters Champion Shaun Murphy, and reigning World Champion Zhao will also get invites.

The other players who have won professional events during the qualification cycle are currently: Tom Ford (Shoot Out), Lei Peifan (Scottish Open), Mark Allen (Riyadh Season Championship) and Neil Robertson (World Grand Prix). That makes 11 players, so far.

In previous years, there has also been space for winners of world titles away from the World Snooker Tour; Alfie Burden (World Seniors Champion) and Bai Yulu (World Women’s Champion) will both be hoping they can make it in, but if 16 places are taken up by winners of pro events, there won’t be capacity for them.

With the 2025 Champion of Champions still several months away, there are several more opportunities for players - such as O’Sullivan - to earn an invite.

There are nine professional events before then: Championship League Ranking Event, Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Masters, Wuhan Open, English Open, British Open, Xi’an Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open, International Championship.

Should several of these tournaments provide different champions to those named above, then some trophy winners will miss out.

If there aren’t 16 different winners of events - which is possible if the players above win again - then the remaining invites will go to the highest-placed non-qualified players from the world ranking list.

This could be an avenue for O’Sullivan, as all those above him in the current world rankings have already qualified. In 2021, O’Sullivan qualified by this route.

ITV4 in the United Kingdom is set to be the host broadcaster for the 2025 Champion of Champions, and it understood that this will be the last snooker tournament they’ll televise for a while, as they have not renewed their latest contract that runs out at the end of the current calendar year.