Champion of Champions Snooker: Who Qualifies, the Format and Every Winner
The Champion of Champions is an invitation event for players who have won a tournament in the previous twelve months. Sixteen play, in four groups of four, and the winner takes £150,000.
The 2026 event runs from 9 to 15 November at the Leicester Arena, with Mark Selby as defending champion. It is not a ranking event. Ronnie O'Sullivan has won it most often, four times.
Most invitation events in snooker pick their field from the rankings. This one asks a different question: what have you won lately? Win almost any World Snooker Tour event and you are in the following November, which is why a women's world champion, a seniors champion and the world number one can all end up in the same draw.
Who qualifies
Qualification runs from one Champion of Champions to the next. The winners of World Snooker Tour events in that window get a place: ranking events, the main invitation events such as the Masters and the Shanghai Masters, and the titles on the women's and seniors tours. Some players win several events, so the sixteen places are rarely filled by sixteen different winners. When they are not, the remaining places go to the highest-ranked players who have not already qualified.
That is how the 2026 field came together. Selby, Zhao Xintong, Wu Yize, Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump and Jak Jones each won more than one qualifying event, which left room for Shaun Murphy as the 2026 world runner-up and Neil Robertson from the rankings.
The 2026 field
| Player | Qualified by winning |
|---|---|
| Mark Selby England | 2025 Champion of Champions (also won the 2025 UK Championship and 2026 China Open) |
| Zhao Xintong China | 2025 Riyadh Season Championship (also the 2026 World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship) |
| Wu Yize China | 2025 International Championship (also the 2026 World Championship and Shenzhen Open) |
| Kyren Wilson England | 2026 Masters (also the 2026 Northern Ireland Open) |
| Judd Trump England | 2026 German Masters (also the 2026 Shanghai Masters) |
| Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thailand | 2026 World Open |
| Chang Bingyu China | 2026 Wuhan Open |
| Chris Wakelin England | 2025 Scottish Open |
| Barry Hawkins England | 2026 Welsh Open |
| Jak Jones Wales | 2026 Championship League (also the 2026 British Open) |
| Ali Carter England | 2026 English Open |
| Alfie Burden England | 2025 Shoot Out |
| Panchaya Channoi Thailand | 2026 World Women's Championship |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan England | 2026 World Seniors Championship |
| Shaun Murphy England | Runner-up, 2026 World Championship |
| Neil Robertson Australia | Top-up from the world rankings |
Where a player won more than one qualifying event, the first title is the one that counted; the others are in brackets.
Format
The sixteen players are split into four groups of four, and each group is played in a single day:
- Group semi-finals: two matches, best of 7 frames.
- Group final: the two winners meet the same evening, best of 11. The four group winners go through; in effect these are the quarter-finals.
- Semi-finals: best of 11.
- Final: best of 19, over two sessions.
Everyone in a group has to win twice in one day to reach the semi-finals, so a slow start in the afternoon match leaves little time to recover. In 2026 the defending champion Selby beat Alfie Burden 4–3 in his group semi-final and then lost the group final 6–2 to Chris Wakelin.
Prize money 2026
| Finish | Players | Each |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1 | £150,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | £60,000 |
| Semi-finalist | 2 | £30,000 |
| Lost in a group final | 4 | £17,500 |
| Lost in a group semi-final | 8 | £12,500 |
| Total | 16 | £440,000 |
The prize money does not count towards the world rankings, because the Champion of Champions is an invitation event; see how snooker rankings work. Prize money at every other event this season is in snooker prize money 2026/27.
Most titles
| Player | Country | Titles | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronnie O'Sullivan | England | 4 | 2013, 2014, 2018, 2022 |
| Neil Robertson | Australia | 2 | 2015, 2019 |
| Mark Allen | Northern Ireland | 2 | 2020, 2023 |
Another 7 players have won it once. Judd Trump has reached the final six times and won only one, in 2021.
Every final
Newest first; finals involving a Chinese player are shaded. The event was played twice in its first life, in 1978 with four players and in 1980 with ten in two round-robin groups, and then dropped until Matchroom Sport revived it in 2013.
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Mark Selby England | Judd Trump England | 10–5 |
| 2024 | Mark Williams Wales | Xiao Guodong China | 10–6 |
| 2023 | Mark Allen Northern Ireland | Judd Trump England | 10–3 |
| 2022 | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | Judd Trump England | 10–6 |
| 2021 | Judd Trump England | John Higgins Scotland | 10–4 |
| 2020 | Mark Allen Northern Ireland | Neil Robertson Australia | 10–6 |
| 2019 | Neil Robertson Australia | Judd Trump England | 10–9 |
| 2018 | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | Kyren Wilson England | 10–9 |
| 2017 | Shaun Murphy England | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | 10–8 |
| 2016 | John Higgins Scotland | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | 10–7 |
| 2015 | Neil Robertson Australia | Mark Allen Northern Ireland | 10–5 |
| 2014 | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | Judd Trump England | 10–7 |
| 2013 | Ronnie O'Sullivan England | Stuart Bingham England | 10–8 |
| 1980 | Doug Mountjoy Wales | John Virgo England | 10–8 |
| 1978 | Ray Reardon Wales | Alex Higgins Northern Ireland | 11–9 |
Chinese players
Xiao Guodong reached the 2024 final and lost 10–6 to Mark Williams, the best result by a Chinese player so far. Three Chinese players are in the 2026 field, all of them ranking-event winners in the last year: Zhao Xintong, Wu Yize and Chang Bingyu.
Where it is played and how to watch
The revived event started at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry in 2013, moved to Milton Keynes in 2020 and to Bolton from 2021 to 2024, and has been at the Leicester Arena, known by its sponsored name as the Mattioli Arena, since 2025. In 2025 the event was shown in the UK on ITV4. It comes between the International Championship and the UK Championship, which starts in York on 28 November.
Scores from Leicester every hour
Our snooker section updates scores, results and the schedule every hour while the event is on, with an event page listing every match.
Go to snooker scores →FAQ
Is the Champion of Champions a ranking event?
No. It is an invitation event, so its prize money does not count towards the world rankings.
How do players qualify for the Champion of Champions?
By winning a World Snooker Tour event in the twelve months before it, including women's and seniors titles. Unfilled places go to the highest-ranked players not already in the field.
How much does the Champion of Champions winner get?
£150,000 in 2026, from a total of £440,000. The runner-up gets £60,000.
Who has won the Champion of Champions the most?
Ronnie O'Sullivan, four times (2013, 2014, 2018 and 2022). Neil Robertson and Mark Allen have won it twice each.
Where is the 2026 Champion of Champions?
At the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England, from 9 to 15 November 2026.
Related reading: Masters Snooker Winners · UK Championship Winners · Snooker Prize Money 2026/27 · How Snooker Rankings Work
Sources: qualification rules, the 2026 field, format and prize money from Wikipedia's Champion of Champions and 2026 Champion of Champions articles (which cite the organiser, Matchroom Sport); finals from the same pages, cross-checked against our Chinese list; dates and venue also checked against the snooker.org calendar. This article contains no sponsored or affiliate links.