Venue change for 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters, dates confirmed for major snooker event in the Middle East

Saudi Arabia hosted its first professional snooker ranking event last season in Riyadh. The competition produced one of the most exciting and dramatic finishes in the sport's history, with world number one Judd Trump conjuring up a counter clearance to oust Mark Williams on the very last ball in the deciding frame of the final to win the title.

Trump's memorable triumph - which was selected as the ‘Magic Moment of the Season’ - saw him pocket the £500,000 first prize, which is the same amount that the winner of the World Championship at the Crucible currently receives. The overall prize fund for the second edition of the Saudi Arabia Masters will again be in excess of £2 million.

The Middle East does have a significant history when it comes to participation and hosting premier snooker events, but Saudi Arabia’s involvement within the top echelons of the sport is new.

The Kingdom has made quite an impact already; on top of the Saudi Arabia Masters, there have been two stagings of the Riyadh Season Championship - which features the unique gold ball 167 break concept - and the opening of the Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy.

Elsewhere in the cuesports world, Saudi is the current home of the World Pool Championship, and will host the blue riband event again, this July. Last year, Fedor Gorst pipped Eklent Kaci in a thrilling hill-hill climax to claim the 9-ball pool crown.

Both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and World Pool Championship showpieces have 10-year contracts with the Middle East country as part of it’s long-term commitment to grow cuesports.

As per the official announcement on the World Snooker Tour website, it explains: “These back-to-back world-class events highlight Saudi Arabia’s growing presence on the international sporting stage, aligned with Vision 2030 – the Kingdom’s wide-reaching initiative to diversify its economy and empower the next generation through sport.

“Now in the second year of a transformative partnership, Matchroom’s collaboration with the Saudi Arabian sporting authorities is underpinned by a long-term legacy programme. With a shared vision alongside the Ministry of Sport and the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation, both tours remain committed to expanding cue sports at every level – from youth development and grassroots coaching to international wild card opportunities for emerging regional talent.”

The involvement and investment from Saudi Arabia has raised the topic of sportswashing.

When and where is the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters being held?

The 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will be held at the Green Halls in Jeddah between August 8th to 16th. This a change in venue and city, as Riyadh was the host in 2024.

Like last year, nine days have been allocated for the big-money event - titled as the 'Battle of the Baize' - and once again, all 144 competitors will feature at the main venue; there are no 'qualifying rounds' held elsewhere. The field will be made up of 128 World Snooker Tour professionals/top-ups and 16 Saudi wildcards.

If the tournament format remains the same - there is no suggestion that it won’t be - the event will use the same tiered draw system that the UK Championship and World Championship currently employs.

This means that the world’s top 16 ranked players will all go straight through to the last 32 phase where they will be joined by the 16 players who emerge from the opening four rounds.

These opening four rounds feature all the other contestants, with players entering the fray depending on their world ranking position - the lowest ranked in the standings and amateurs will need to start in the first round, those seeded between 17 to 48 don’t come in until round three.

It will be interesting to see if the schedule remains exactly the same. For the inaugural edition, eight tables were initially in operation (for the first five days), with a round completed each day.

For an elite event that is being branded as snooker’s ‘fourth major’, this made the round of 32 and 16 feel rushed.

With only afternoon and evening sessions, in the last 32 - despite all of the world’s top 16 being in action that day - only two of them could feature on the main TV table. These were Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan, meaning then World Champion Kyren Wilson, and recent world number one Mark Allen, didn’t appear on the main stage at all, and were kind of invisible to TV audiences along with several other top 16 stars.

If the programme is to remain the same, it would be an idea to have the two main tables next to each other - similar to what they do at the Barbican and Crucible - instead of having the main table separate from the others.

It’s brilliant that all 144 players use the same venue, but a few tweaks from last year’s format will help raise the event’s profile and prestige.