Snooker's Saudi Arabian project not yet over as golden ball '167' event looks likely to return

News broke during the recent 2026 World Snooker Championship that the big-money Saudi Arabia Masters ranking event - labelled by some as the sport’s ‘fourth major’ - was to be immediately scrapped from the calendar just two years into a reported ten-year contract.

The World 9-Ball Pool Championship being staged there - which had the same length of hosting agreement - was also canned, although the crown jewel in the 9-ball world will now be held somewhere else.

Similar to other sports, Saudi Arabia took a sudden, and significant interest in snooker over the past few years, hosting its first professional events in the Kingdom.

Top-flight snooker - and 9-ball pool - did already have a history in the Middle East. Initially staged as an invitational event in 1988 (known as the Dubai Masters), the Dubai Classic ranking event was held in the United Arab Emirates between 1989 to 1994.

A one-off Bahrain Championship snooker ranking event was played in 2008, meanwhile the World 9-Ball Pool Championship was held for ten consecutive years in Qatar between 2010 to 2019.

But Saudi Arabia’s financial input was on a completely different scale with the Saudi Arabia Masters ranking event immediately becoming the second-richest event on the professional circuit, only marginally behind snooker’s blue riband competition, the World Championship.

Both Judd Trump and Neil Robertson - the first two winners of the fledgling tournament - each collected £500,000 top prizes for their respective deciding frame final victories over Mark Williams in 2024 and Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2025.

However, neither Trump nor Robertson will be able to defend the same amount of prize money from their ranking totals in one go with future editions of the lucrative event now cancelled.

The Saudi Arabia Masters was not the first professional snooker event to be held in the country, though, with the Riyadh Season Championship preceding it by a few months.

Different to its ranking event counterpart, the Riyadh Season Championship is an invitational event featuring 12 players - the top ten from the world rankings, and two local amateur wildcards.

The tournament is famous for including a ‘gold ball’ that is positioned touching the baulk cushion at the start of a frame, in-line with the brown, blue, pink and black ball spots.

Should a player make a 147 break, they immediately have the chance to pot this additional ball worth 20 points - playing wherever the cueball landed from potting the last black - and make a ‘golden maximum’ break of 167.

A mammoth first prize has been attached to this concept; initially it was $500,000, but it has since doubled to $1 million. As yet, no-one has achieved it, nor come particularly close to doing so; John Higgins has gone the furthest, getting to the final yellow.

The first Riyadh Season Snooker Championship was held in March 2024 with Ronnie O’Sullivan defeating Luca Brecel in the final to pocket the £250,000 first prize. To date, this is O’Sullivan’s latest professional title.

Held the next season - but towards the end of the same calendar year in 2024 - Mark Allen scooped the second edition (Brecel was runner-up again), and earlier this term it was Zhao Xintong scooping the winner’s purse following victory over Neil Robertson in the final.

Riyadh Season snooker return pencilled in for November

Snooker fans may have thought that due to the Saudi Arabia Masters being called off, the Riyadh Season Championship would be ditched, too, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with those events having different organisers.

The ‘gold ball’ 167 invitational snooker tournament is part of the wider annual Riyadh Season concept organised by the nation’s General Entertainment Authority which is held in the Saudi capital city and consists of entertainment, cultural, and sporting events.

Starting in the autumn, the Riyadh Season runs for several months into the new year.

The last two Riyadh Season Snooker Championships have been held in December (2024) and November (2025), and following a recently released World Snooker Tour competition calendar published on its website on Monday, the event could be returning for a fourth edition this November.

On the list of competitions for the upcoming 2026/27 professional campaign, there was a ‘Potential Event TBC’ written down for between November 19-21 - the exact same dates as last year’s Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.

Besides the bonus on offer for a 167, the overall prize fund at the tournament is a very lucrative one, with quarter-finalists having been guaranteed at least £50,000 - the top four seeds have been certain to pocket this with their campaigns not starting until the last eight stage.

There may well be grumbles from lower ranked professionals regarding the fact that the sport’s top stars are still able to earn significant income from action in Saudi Arabia, while the ranking event previously held there - which was open to all tour card holders - is no more.

Of course, all players have the opportunity to climb the rankings ladder and earn invites to such elite competitions.

The sporting events landscape in Saudi has changed in recent months with the country cooling on several projects and readjusting its priorities. The ongoing political tensions in the Middle East have likely been a factor, and the nation is focusing on delivering the FIFA World Cup that will be held there in 2034.

It is understood that the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters was being organised by the government’s Ministry of Sport, while the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship is part of Sela’s portfolio.