Laid-back Luca Brecel claims he 'isn't interested' in winning a second World Snooker Championship title

Number seven seed Brecel will face experienced qualifier Ryan Day in round one, with the tie set to conclude on Thursday afternoon.

Two years ago on the sport’s grandest stage, a 28-year-old Brecel created history when he became the first player from mainland Europe to win the World Snooker Championship.

The Belgian enjoyed a remarkable run en route to claiming snooker’s ultimate prize.

After ousting Ricky Walden 10-9 in round one to win his first match at the Crucible - at his sixth attempt - Brecel eliminated three-time champion Mark Williams 13-11 in the last 16.

In the quarter-finals, Brecel won seven consecutive frames from 10-6 down to dethrone defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-10 in the quarter-finals, before staging the biggest comeback in Crucible history in the semi-finals as he recovered from 14-5 behind to defeat Si Jiahui, 17-15.

Many thought that the final would be one step too far for Brecel, as he faced Mark Selby, the player who had won four of the last nine World Championship titles.

But Brecel got off to a strong start as he led 6-2, and he resisted a 147 break and a five-frame rally from his opponent in the closing stages for an 18-15 victory.

Since his crowning glory at the Crucible, though, Brecel’s results have been sketchy, although consistency has not really been a feature across his professional career as a whole.

In that particular time, Brecel has made the final of three invitational events (2023 Shanghai Masters, Riyadh Season Championship x2) and won the World Mixed Doubles alongside Reanne Evans.

However, his results in ranking competition have been poor. Since securing his fourth ranking event title in May 2023, Brecel has reached just one ranked semi-final, and a further two quarter-finals.

Although, in the second half of this season, there have been green shoots of recovery for Brecel, having made the last eight of the Scottish Open and final of the Riyadh Season Championship before Christmas, and the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in February.

But having failed to qualify for any of the three Players Series tournaments, Brecel's last outing on the professional circuit was over two months ago when he lost to Selby in the last four of the aforementioned Welsh Open.

Despite all this, Brecel doesn’t seemed bothered about the pressures of the upcoming World Championship, or an impending plummet down the world rankings (the £500,000 he won 24 months ago is due to come off his rankings total after this year’s Crucible) that could cost him a place at several lucrative invitationals next season.

“I’ve not really thought about the possibility of winning a second world title.” said Brecel. “I'm not that interested in it. If it happens it happens, but if it doesn't, then it's all good.

“I just don't really think a lot about winning tournaments and stuff like that. I just like playing the game. I'm more of a Ronaldinho type of player in snooker, so it's all about just entertaining and fun!

“And also having a nice life around it, that's more important to me! So yeah, no pressure.”

Brecel says he ‘could easily lose in the first round’

Brecel holds perhaps the most bizarre Crucible record of anyone else currently on the professional tour.

In 2012 on his debut there, Brecel made history as he became the youngest player ever to play at the venue in the final rounds of the World Snooker Championship - aged only 17 years and 45 days. He was also the first Belgian to compete there.

From his seven Crucible appearances, to date, Brecel has lost in round one six times, and won the title once. It means his only match victories at the venue came during his world title sequence. Boom or bust.

Brecel is aware of his results unpredictability but seems content to keep playing the way he does: “I'm always going to be an outsider. If I play well, then anything can happen, you know, but I can also lose easily in the first round. That's just my game because I play really attacking, but if it works then I can win it.

“I feel much more experienced coming in as a past winner but less pressure as well. It is going to be difficult to win the tournament but I'm playing well and we'll see how it goes.”

Whilst Brecel continues his laid-back ‘as it comes’ approach, he has considered a potential blockbuster quarter-final with world number one Judd Trump in Sheffield, this year.

“I relish the challenge of playing Judd in the third round. I've never played against him here at the Crucible. I think he's very tough to beat here… but we will see how it goes.”

Please visit our 2025 World Snooker Championship tournament information centre here for details on the draw, results, format and order of play.

Luca Brecel was speaking to Midnite.

Midnite, the official UK Betting and Casino Partner of the World Snooker Championship 2025, have given one lucky fan the chance to make history, witnessing every frame of action throughout the tournament as part of their Midnite Marathon campaign.

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