Champion of Champions (snooker)

Champion of Champions
Tournament information
Venue Ricoh Arena
Location Coventry
Country England
Established 1978
Organisation(s) World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Matchroom Sport
Format Non-ranking event
Total prize fund £270,000[1]
Current champion(s) England Ronnie O'Sullivan

The Champion of Champions is a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, which was first held in 1978 and was revived in 2013 by Matchroom Sport. The reigning champion is Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The Champion of Champions features all winners of World Snooker events over the preceding 12 months, with the field topped up from the current World Rankings. The tournament has a prize fund of £270,000, of which £100,000 goes to the winner.

History

The event was created in 1978 by boxing promoter Mike Barrett. The event was contested by four players at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England and was sponsored by Daily Mail. It was played on just one day. In 1979 the event was not held due to the Benson & Hedges Masters taking over its venue. It took place again in 1980 at the New London Theatre. The ten players were split into two round robin groups, where also the "dead" frames were played out. After this the tournament was abandoned, as the audience was poor and it was also financially unsuccessful.[2]

The event was revived in 2013 by Matchroom Sport and it replaced the Premier League Snooker on the calendar.[3] The event was held between 19 and 24 November at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry,[4] and was contested by 16 of the world's top players.[5] The event was sponsored by 888casino,[6] promoted by Matchroom Sport and broadcast by ITV4.[7]

Winners

Year Winner Runner-up Final score Season
1978[2] Wales Ray Reardon Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 11–9 1978/79
1980[2] Wales Doug Mountjoy England John Virgo 10–8 1980/81
2013[8] England Ronnie O'Sullivan England Stuart Bingham 10–8 2013/14
2014[9] England Ronnie O'Sullivan England Judd Trump 10–7 2014/15
2015[10] 2015/16

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Champion of Champions". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Turner, Chris. "Other Non-Ranking and Invition Events". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "O'Sullivan excited by new Champion of Champions event". ESPN. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "New Champion Of Champions Event". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "888Casino Champion Of Champions Snooker tickets on sale". AZ Billiards. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "888casino Sponsor Champion of Champions". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "ITV4 to Televise Champion of Champions". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "888casino Champion of Champions (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Dafabet Champion of Champions (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Champion of Champions (2015)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2015.

External links