World Snooker Tour confirms Zhao Xintong ranking situation amidst World Championship campaign

The former top six star from China was banned in 2023 - along with nine other players from his country - following his involvement in the match-fixing scandal that rocked the sport, although Zhao was found not to have actually fixed matches himself.

Zhao's ban ended last September, meaning he was free to play on the international amateur circuit in a bid to win back his place within the professional ranks.

Taking part on the Q Tour - snooker's secondary circuit - Zhao won four successive events, made two maximum 147 breaks, and finished top of the rankings, meaning he earned a two-year World Snooker Tour card starting from next season (2025/26).

However, due to his results on the Q Tour, Zhao was also invited as an amateur to this season's two most prestigious professional events - the UK Championship and the World Championship.

As these two Triple Crown tournaments use a tiered draw format, and there is space for 144 players, the World Snooker Tour and the sport's governing body - the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) - invite a group of top amateur players, based on performances over the past 12 months, to the qualifying rounds.

At the 2024 UK Championship, Zhao navigated four qualifying rounds to reach the main draw at the Barbican in York where he was pipped 6-5 by Shaun Murphy in the opening round in front of the television cameras.

The 28-year-old faced the same equation at the world qualifiers, needing to run the qualifying gauntlet from start to finish. But he did just that - totting up 12 century breaks along the way - to reach the Crucible for the third time in his career.

On the Crucible stage, Zhao defeated last year's runner-up and the number 16 seed Jak Jones 10-4 in round one proper, before dispatching compatriot Lei Peifan - the conqueror of reigning champion Kyren Wilson - 13-10 in the last 16.

In the last eight, Zhao faces fellow qualifier Chris Wakelin; both cueists are featuring in the first World Championship quarter-final of their careers.

Zhao is the first amateur player in Crucible history to reach this stage.

Zhao Xintong’s ranking position situation explained in full

The 2025 World Snooker Championship has a prize fund of nearly £2.4 million pound, and is still the sport's richest competition.

Professional snooker currently uses a money-based ranking list, therefore prize money won by a player (with a few exceptions) is essentially transferred into points and added to their two-year rolling rankings tally.

For example, if your lose in the quarter-finals of this year's Championship, you physically win £50,000 in actual money, and £50,000 gets added to your ranking points total.

Because there is so much money at stake at the Crucible, there is scope for huge ranking list changes after the Championship.

One interesting topic is how this affects Zhao, who currently doesn't have a ranking, and wasn't going to be part of the ranking list until his full-time return later in the year.

However, having reached out to the World Snooker Tour, Totally Snookered can confirm that if Zhao accumulates enough prize money from this year's World Championship, he will finish this season with a world ranking.

The top 64 players in the world rankings at the end of the season are all guaranteed a professional tour card for the following season, and all of them keep their prize money ranking points for the new term.

If Zhao reaches the semi-finals at this year's Crucible, he will earn £100,000. Adding the £10,000 he won for making round one proper at the UK Championship earlier this season, that cumulative prize money would be enough for him to break into the top 64 at the end of this year's World Championship, and stay there for the start of next season.

Zhao is guaranteed to be on the pro circuit next season either way, but if he can get into the top 64 immediately after this Championship, he keeps all that prize money on his ranking total instead of starting the 2025/26 campaign on zero points and at the back of the rankings.

Being inside the top 64 is a big deal, as it gets players further into some events before they strike a ball, and gives them seeding in most flat 128-player draws.

If Zhao defeats Wakelin, he makes his return back to the pro ranks a lot less bothersome, and could fast track himself back up into the top echelons, a lot quicker.

It is important to note, that if Zhao goes into the top 64, he will only receive a one-year card compared to a two, but as he'll have so many points to start the season with, falling outside the 64 bracket is incredibly unlikely.

Should Zhao make the one table set-up in Sheffield, it means that recent Crucible debutant Zak Surety (who is currently 64th in the provisional end-of-season rankings) would be nudged out of the top 64 bracket.

However, this is not disastrous for Surety, as he still has the second year of a two-year tour card to come, meaning he will keep all the ranking points he has totted up this season.

If Zhao went all the way and won the World Championship this year, he would go up to 11th in the world rankings.

Regardless of what happens over the next several days in Sheffield, Judd Trump is guaranteed to finish the 2024/25 season as the world number one.

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