2017 Qualifying Criteria Announced

2017 Qualifying Criteria Announced

January 30th, 2017

The qualification criteria for this year’s Champion of Champions Snooker has been confirmed.

A total of 26 spots are split into six groups, with the winners of the first 16 events listed assured of an invite to Ricoh Arena, Coventry for what has quickly become one of snooker’s showpiece tournaments. Within each group the events are listed in chronological order from the conclusion of the 2016 Champion of Champions.

The first group consists of four tournaments; the defending champion plus the winners of snooker’s triple crown tournaments. John Higgins (Champion of Champions), Mark Selby (UK Championship) and Ronnie O’Sullivan (The Masters) already occupy three of these four positions.

The second group of events is made up of major prize money ranking events, as well as Matchroom Sport’s other promoted tournament on the World Snooker Tour – Championship League. The winners of these competitions are also guaranteed an invite to the Champion of Champions.

Group three is the Home Nations events, with Mark King and Marco Fu already listed as winners of the Northern Irish Open and Scottish Open respectively.

The fourth group includes winners of the Gibraltar Open, Riga Masters and Paul Hunter Classic, as well as the World Championship runner-up. Next on the list are the two World Cup winners and finally the sixth group on the qualifying list features the Snooker Shoot Out and the 6 Reds World Championship.

Should 16 different players not occupy the 26 positions on the list then the remaining invite(s) for the Champion of Champions will be awarded to the highest players on the World Ranking list after the final ranking event prior to the Champion of Champions.

The 2017 Champion of Champions is set to take place at Ricoh Arena from Monday, November 6, concluding on Sunday, November 12. Ticket details will be announced shortly.

Qualifying List 2017 (as at Jan 2017. For up-to-date list click here.)

1 Champions of Champions 2016 John Higgins
2 UK Championship 2016 Mark Selby
3 The Masters 2017 Ronnie O’Sullivan
4 World Championship 2017
5 German Masters 2017 Anthony Hamilton
6 World Grand Prix 2017 Barry Hawkins
7 Championship League 2017
8 Players Championship 2017
9 China Open 2017
10 Evergrande China Championship 2017
11 Shanghai Masters 2017
12 Indian Open 2017
13 European Masters 2017
14 International Championship 2017
15 Northern Irish Open 2016 Mark King
16 Scottish Open 2016 Marco Fu
17 Welsh Open 2017
18 English Open 2017
19 Gibraltar Open 2017
20 World Championship Runner-Up 2017
21 Riga Masters 2017
22 Paul Hunter Classic 2017
23 World Cup 2017
24 World Cup 2017
25 Shoot Out 2017
26 6 Reds World Championships 2017