Top TV snooker pundits discuss and reveal their picks for the 2025 World Championship

At the time of writing, the qualifying rounds for the Championship are taking place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between April 7 to 16.

These stages will yield 16 qualifiers who will be drawn at random against the top 16 seeds in round one for the televised, main draw stages at the Crucible which start on April 19.

Although we don’t yet know the qualifiers or full first round draw, we do know where the world’s top 16 players are positioned in the fixed bracket, with defending champion and number one seed Kyren Wilson at the top, and world number one Judd Trump - who is the number two seed - in the other half at the bottom.

Who is the favourite to win the 2025 World Snooker Championship?

The general consensus amongst bookmakers is that Judd Trump is the favourite to win the tournament. A title victory at the Crucible next month would be Trump's second world title and put him into an elite club of multiple-time champions.

Four-time World Champion Mark Selby has all the Crucible pedigree needed, and comes to Sheffield this year in brilliant form having won three titles this season, and narrowly missing out on the Tour Championship trophy last weekend.

Selby is second favourite in the odds, with title holder Kyren Wilson - who is aiming to break the famous 'Crucible Curse' - third in the ratings.

Seven-time Crucible conqueror Ronnie O'Sullivan is somewhat of an unknown quantity this time around, as he has not competed on the professional circuit since the start of January. It is still unclear whether O'Sullivan will even play in Sheffield, but he is generally the fourth favourite for the title.

Pundits make their picks for Crucible glory

On a recent episode of the very popular Snooker Scene Podcast - hosted by snooker writer and commentator David Hendon - he and fellow ITV Sport pundits who had been working on the Tour Championship got together to talk about this year’s blue riband event at the Crucible.

Hendon, Phil Yates, Neal Foulds and Alan McManus discussed the chances of the top ranked stars, before Hendon asked each expert to name one player who they think will win the title.

Yates began and went with Mark Selby before former world number three Foulds selected Mark Allen.

Former International Open winner Foulds explained: “Mark Allen for me. He fits the profile of Kyren last year and we just keep looking at form and not always class, and I just think the World Championship is a completely different beast to anything else.”

Next up was former Masters Champion Alan McManus, who reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship on three occasions during his career.

McManus went with Shaun Murphy: “I’m going to stick to my guns that I thought about four or six weeks ago; Shaun Murphy.”

Podcast presenter Hendon went last and named Kyren Wilson as his prediction, saying: “I'm going to say Kyren Wilson is going to end that hex, that hoodoo, that curse.

“I think he's got the confidence, he's got the game, he's got the kind of almost stubbornness - ‘I'm going to be the one to end it’. I think he's going to do it.”

None of the four experts chose pre-tournament favourite Judd Trump, who went out in disappointing fashion to Jak Jones in the quarter-finals last year, and was eliminated by Anthony McGill in the opening round the year before that.

You can listen to the full episode of the Snooker Scene Podcast, for free, here.

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