Race to Riyadh complete as Mark Selby misses out on shot at gold ball maximum and $1 million jackpot

The third edition of the unique invitational tournament is set to take place in Boulevard City in the Saudi Arabian capital between November 19 to 21.

Once again, the event will feature a special ‘gold ball’ worth 20 points that contestants can only pot at the end of a maximum 147 break for a ‘super maximum’ of 167.

There is a $1 million bonus prize waiting for the first player to achieve the unusual feat; no cueist managed to fashion a golden max during the first two editions of the event.

Besides that particular jackpot, there is a £250,000 first prize to the winner of the competition. Ronnie O’Sullivan and reigning champion Mark Allen both scooped that amount when they claimed their respective titles over the past couple of seasons; both players defeated Luca Brecel in those finals.

How does the draw work and who are the invited players for Riyadh?

The Riyadh Season Snooker Championship will again feature 12 players consisting of 10 professionals from the World Snooker Tour and two local amateur wildcards.

This season’s format hasn’t officially been released, but if the first two episodes are to go by, the top six seeds go straight through to the last eight, where they will be joined by the two players who emerge from the two preliminary rounds before it.

Matches are expected to be the best of seven frames up to and including the semi-finals, with the final being the best of nine.

The ten professional players who have qualified has been determined from their positions on the world ranking list after the conclusion of the 2025 Xi’an Grand Prix.

As per the rules for many professional snooker events, the number one seed will be the reigning and defending champion Allen, with current world champion Zhao Xintong - who will be making his debut in this event - as the number two seed.

The remaining players come from the top of the global standings working downwards, therefore Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson and Mark Williams - currently the world’s top four - are seed numbers three to six. Williams pushed himself up into the top four by virtue of his Xi’an triumph.

O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy are the other four players to make the cut. Murphy has done exceptionally well to gate-crash his way into this event having been ranked outside the world’s top 16 only last month.

However, after victory at the British Open and a runner-up finish in Xi’an, ‘The Magician’ can make plans for the Middle East in a few weeks time.

Murphy’s last-minute qualification dash means that he nudges Mark Selby out, while two-time runner-up Brecel wasn’t even in the picture being ranked outside the world’s top 32 at the moment.

Selby is currently ranked 10th in the world, but due to world champion Zhao being 12th, he will miss out on a shot at the gold ball for the first time.

As well as Zhao, Robertson is invited for the first time, while Higgins returns after not qualifying for the second staging. At the inaugural edition - when the prize for a 167 was $500,000 - Higgins potted 15 reds and 15 blacks before missing a very tricky yellow after not getting ideal position on it.

The identity of the two local wildcards are not yet known.