Ronnie O'Sullivan set for controversial Champion of Champions invite after qualification shake-up

The 2025 Champion of Champions takes place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester between November 10-16 and will be live televised by host broadcaster ITV4 in the UK.

A firm favourite amongst fans and players alike, the current Champion of Champions 16-player format has been a regular fixture on the top-flight calendar since 2013.

An invitational tournament organised by Matchroom Multisport, the champions of certain events from across the previous snooker year receive invites to the one-table showpiece. Mark Williams is the current champion having collected the top prize of £150,000 after defeating Xiao Guodong in the 2024 final.

Who has qualified for the 2025 Champion of Champions snooker?

On top of the event itself, the Champion of Champions adds a bit of extra intrigue throughout the year as players jostle to earn an invitation.

With the competition held during the middle of a season, Matchroom don’t officially release their qualification criteria for the next staging until closer to the time, although winners of certain big events will know they have definitely qualified.

There are always 16 players in the tournament, regardless of how many title holders there are. The qualification cycle starts from the previous Champion of Champions, meaning trophy holder Williams was the first player to stamp a spot in this year’s event.

However, due to players winning multiple events throughout the year and qualifying more than once, organisers in the past have invited champions away from the professional circuit through the world women’s and world seniors championships. If they still haven’t filled the 16-slot quota, they invite the highest ranked players from the world rankings who haven’t already qualified.

On Monday (20th October), Matchroom officially announced through its Champion of Champions website who has and will qualify for next month’s extravaganza, and there were a couple of surprises.

All the 13 winners of professional events from across the past 12 months were on the list, as too was current world women’s champion Bai Yulu. The last two spots will go to the winner of the ongoing Northern Ireland Open and the highest ranked player from the world ranking list who hasn’t already qualified.

Reigning world seniors champion Alfie Burden was not on the list, nor is there space for the winner of the International Championship (November 2-9) which takes place shortly before the action in Leicester breaks off.

There has been space for the world seniors champion into the Champion of Champions every year since 2019, with Jimmy White, David Lilley, Lee Walker and Igor Figueiredo all having accepted their invitations via that pathway.

Despite an extremely quick turnaround in recent years, there has also always been space for the International Championship winner. However, it’s possible that Matchroom brought forward this year’s cut-off and the winner of that event will be invited to next year’s Champion of Champions instead.

This qualification shake-up means that record four-time champion O’Sullivan is apparently guaranteed an invite.

The Englishman has not claimed a title on the World Snooker Tour since winning the World Masters of Snooker (now known as the Riyadh Season Championship) in March 2024.

However, due to The Rocket currently being ranked fifth in the world, he is set to win a ticket as the highest ranked non-champion.

With the International Championship winner not getting an invite this year, then surely the qualification race for this spot ends on Sunday after the final of the Northern Ireland Open. With neither O’Sullivan, nor Ding Junhui - who is his closest rival in this race in seventh place on the world rankings, but nearly £300,000 behind him - in Belfast this week, the former can not be caught.

Whether O’Sullivan will accept the invitation is another matter, though. Despite his incredible record in it, he has opted out of the tournament before, and during a recent radio interview he said that the only events in the UK he is planning on playing in this season are the UK, Tour, and World Championships.

There is a “contractual right” that Burden should be in it

Tournament organisers allocating a place through the world rankings has proved controversial with current seniors champion Alfie Burden on the sidelines seemingly snubbed.

Fans online have expressed their displeasure at Burden not being invited, and World Seniors Snooker Tour Chairman Jason Francis has also questioned why he is not on the published list.

Francis has taken the issue to the top, speaking with World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) Chairman Jason Ferguson, and believes that there has been an oversight from Matchroom, as there is a “contractual right” for Burden to be on the qualification list.

Burden himself has also taken to social media, posting on X (formerly Twitter) saying: “I’m receiving a lot of messages regarding my participation in the champion of champions and I’ll be making a statement about this soon” and sharing Francis’ message above.

Ultimately, Matchroom Multisport - not the World Snooker Tour nor WPBSA - organise the Champion of Champions, and it is up to them who they want to invite; they run the show and stump up the prize fund. However, it will be interesting to see whether an official agreement was already in place to involve the world seniors champion and if that holds water.

Another situation that is unclear is what will happen if the winner of the Northern Ireland Open has already qualified - which is a strong possibility with several top players left in at the last 16 stage. Would Matchroom take another player from the rankings - which would likely be Ding - or call Burden up after all?