Ronnie O'Sullivan enters the 2025 World Snooker Championship, but will he play at the Crucible?

O'Sullivan - who won the first of his world titles in 2001, and his most recent in 2022 - put his entry in before the deadline date, and is scheduled to be one of the 16 seeded players who go straight through to the main venue stages at the Crucible Theatre which take place between April 19 to May 5.

Of course, this does not mean that O'Sullivan will actually play in the tournament. The 49-year-old Englishman has not competed on the professional circuit since the start of January when he deliberately broke his cue on site at the Championship League in Leicester, before leaving despite having one more fixture to play.

Since then, O'Sullivan has withdrawn from several competitions which he was in the draw for. This included pulling out of defending his Masters crown a few days before the Triple Crown event started at the Alexandra Palace, and withdrawing from a big-money double header consisting of the World Open in China and World Grand Prix in Hong Kong.

It has not been uncommon for O'Sullivan to withdraw from tournaments throughout his illustrious 30-year-plus professional career, but he has always played in the World Championship.

In the 2012/13 season, ‘The Rocket’ had played just one professional match all campaign before travelling to Yorkshire where he successfully defended the World Championship title for the first time, despite having not played competitively for several months.

Last season, O'Sullivan won five titles on the World Snooker Tour - including triumphs at the UK Championship and Masters - but this season, he has yet to reach a final. However, having put his entry in, he has one more possible outing this term which would begin against a qualifier in round one at the Crucible.

Kyren Wilson is the reigning and defending World Champion; last year, he won snooker’s biggest accolade for the first time in his career, and he will return to try and defy the famous ‘Crucible Curse’. As per tradition, Wilson will play and complete his first round match on the opening day.

With the Tour Championship still to come, the identities of 15 of the 16 seeds for the World Championship are now confirmed, with either last year's runner-up Jak Jones - who currently holds 16th place - or Wu Yize set to complete that line-up.

The qualifying stages for the 2025 World Snooker Championship - which consist of four rounds and all entrants who are outside of the world's top 16 rankings - take place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between April 7 to 16.

Amongst those at the qualifiers include former world champions Stuart Bingham, Graeme Dott and Ken Doherty, and six-time finalist Jimmy White.

Having declared their intentions to retire from the top tier circuit, both Dominic Dale and Joe Perry are set to feature in their final professional tournament, and will want to go out on a high by qualifying for snooker's grandest stage one more time.

In total, 144 players are set to play in the 2025 World Snooker Championship, including a plethora of amateur hopefuls who have earned invites through their results at major international amateur events across the past 12 months.