The draw and schedule for the group stage of the ManBetX Champion of Champions has been made, with the tournament set to break off at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on Monday.
Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his tournament defence on Thursday, November 7 against the eventual winner of this week’s Yushan World Open. Should that player have already qualified for the ManBetX Champion of Champions, World Seniors Champion Jimmy White will take that place in the draw.
The 16-player field was split into eight seeded players – based on World Ranking with defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan the No.1 seed – and eight unseeded players for the purposes of the draw, with the seeded players drawn at random against unseeded players. The top four seeded players were allocated into groups 1-4, with O’Sullivan seeded first and Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson heading groups 2, 3 and 4 respectively.
Each day’s play during the group stage sees two matches in the afternoon, with the winners of those matches facing off in the evening session for a place in the semi-finals.
MANBETX CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS DRAW & SCHEDULE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4 | GROUP 4
1pm | Group Semi-Finals (best of 7)
Neil Robertson vs. Martin Gould
Shaun Murphy vs. Reanne Evans
7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
Robertson/Gould vs. Murphy/Evans
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 | GROUP 3
1pm | Group Semi-Finals (best of 7)
Mark Selby vs. Yan Bingtao
Mark Allen vs. Matthew Selt
7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
Selby/Yan vs. Allen/Selt
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6 | GROUP 2
1pm | Group Semi-Finals (best of 7)
Judd Trump vs. Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
Trump/Maguire vs. Wilson/Un-Nooh
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7 | GROUP 1
1pm | Group Semi-Finals (best of 7)
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Yushan World Open Winner/Jimmy White
John Higgins vs. Stuart Bingham
7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
O’Sullivan/Yushan vs. Higgins/Bingham
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8 | Semi-Final
Winner Group 1 vs. Winner Group 4
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 | Semi-Final
Winner Group 2 vs. Winner Group 3
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10
The Final
Tickets for the 2019 ManBetX Champion of Champions are on sale now. Prices start from just £11 per session with Premium and VIP packages also available.
Featuring tournament winners from the previous 12 months, the ManBetX Champion of Champions is broadcast live on ITV4 and has become one of snooker’s biggest tournaments since launching at Ricoh Arena in 2013. The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy have all lifted the trophy.
The tournament starts with a quartet of four-man groups played over four days from Monday, November 4 until Thursday, November 7. The winner of each group progresses to the semi-finals, with one played on Friday, November 8 and the other on Saturday, November 9. The final on Sunday, November 10 will be over 19 frames.