Top 16 seeds for 2025 World Snooker Championship confirmed: Wilson, Trump, O'Sullivan on Crucible list

Following Xiao Guodong's 10-8 first round victory over fellow Chinese countryman Wu Yize at the 2025 Tour Championship in Manchester on Tuesday afternoon, it means no-one else can break into the world's top 16 before the start of the World Championship.

The top 16 players in the world rankings after the Tour Championship all automatically go straight through to the Crucible Theatre phases (April 19-May 5) and the 32-player main draw. All other entrants - 128 of them - go to the qualifying rounds held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between April 7-16, where 16 will emerge to join the seeds on snooker’s grandest stage.

Youngster Wu - who has enjoyed a breakthrough season having made his first two ranking event finals - would have gone into the world's top 16 for the first time had he made the final this week in Manchester.

His defeat, though, is great news for last year's World Championship runner-up Jak Jones, who clings on to the 16th and final seeding spot, and will not need to go through the bother of qualifying for the first time in his career.

Who are the seeds for the 2025 World Snooker Championship?

As the reigning and defending title holder, Kyren Wilson will be the number one seed for the 2025 World Snooker Championship.

'The Warrior' - who has enjoyed an incredible season wearing the world crown - will sit at the top of the draw and play his first round match of this year's blue riband tournament on the opening day on Saturday 19th April.

Regardless of what else happens at the Tour Championship this week, Judd Trump will definitely go to the Crucible as the world number one, and therefore be the number two seed, with his position being at the bottom of the draw.

Whilst the 16 seeds are now known, their specific seed numbers and placement within the Crucible draw will not be confirmed until later this week.

However, as well as Wilson and Trump, the other confirmed seed numbers are Shaun Murphy (15th seed) and Jak Jones (16th seed). This means in round two in Sheffield we could get Trump v Murphy, and a rerun of last year's final between Wilson and Jones.

The other seeds guaranteed spots in the Crucible draw are: Mark Selby, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, John Higgins, Luca Brecel, Mark Allen, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Barry Hawkins, Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui and Xiao Guodong.

Along with Jones, Chinese stars Si and Xiao will be top 16 seeds at the World Championship for the first time.

2010 World Champion Robertson is back as a top 16 seed having missed out on the Crucible last year for the first time in 20 years after slipping outside of the world's top 16 and failing to come through the qualifiers.

The draw for the Crucible takes place on the morning of Thursday 17th April on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website at around 08:45BST.

But wait, what if Ronnie O’Sullivan doesn’t play at the Crucible?

There is one possibility that could change a lot of the above, though.

Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan has entered the 2025 World Snooker Championship, but it is still unclear whether he will actually play in it, having not competed on the professional circuit since the start of January.

Should O’Sullivan elect to withdraw from the competition - despite his topsy turvy career, he has always played at the Crucible each and every year since his debut in 1993 - then it depends on the timing of this.

If O’Sullivan pulls out before the third qualifying round begins (Saturday 12th April), then the world number 17 - Gary Wilson - would become the number 16 seed for the event and receive an automatic spot at the Crucible. Wilson’s third qualifying round opponent would therefore get a bye to the final qualifying round.

If this scenario happens, it means Murphy and Jones would each go up a seeding spot (as well as others), change the draw, and the aforementioned possible round two encounters.

However, if O’Sullivan withdraws from the tournament on or after Saturday 12th April, then his scheduled first round opponent at the Crucible would get a bye. A replacement could not be used due the tiered system the competition uses.

The above scenario is the same for any top 16 seed that withdraws. This information was sent out to entrants along with the draw last week.