Champion of Champions: Dates, Format, History, Prize Money & more

The Champion of Champions is one of the more prestigious non-ranking events on the World Snooker calendar and the 2026 edition will be the 16th time the tournament has taken place.

Originally held as one-off events in 1978 and 1980, the tournament was revived in 2013 and has been on the calendar ever since.

To qualify for the Champion of Champions, a player must have claimed a victory on the World Snooker Tour in the preceding 12 months, and, if necessary, the field of 16 is then topped up by players based on their world rankings.

Mark Selby is the defending champion after he beat Judd Trump 10-5 in the 2025 final.

Dates

The 2026 Champion of Champions event will hasn't had its date announced yet although it's expected that the competition will take place in mid-November,

Format

The 16 qualifiers will be split into four groups of four, with the top-four seeds being kept apart.

The fifth-seeded player is then placed in the same group as the fourth seed, sixth goes with third, seventh with second and the eighth seed shares a group with the top-ranked player.

The remaining eight players are then drawn randomly into their sections, where they will face one of the top-eight seeds in their opening match.

Each group is contested over a single day, with two best-of-seven-frame matches being played before the winners of those then go on to contest a best-of-11-frame group final.

The four group winners then go through to the best-of-11-frame semi-finals, while the final will be played over two sessions and is a best-of-19-frame format.

• Final - Best-of-19 frames

• Semi-Finals - Best-of-11 frames

• Group Stages - Best-of-7 x 2, Best-of-11 x 1

Venue

The 2026 edition will be held at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester for the second time after moving to the venue in 2025.

The Champion of Champions had previously been hosted by Bolton's Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Prize Money

The prize money for the 2026 Champion of Champions is expected to remain unchanged from 2025, with a £150,000 top prize up for grabs.

• Winner: £150,000
• Runner-up: £60,000
• Losing semi-finalists: £30,000
• Losing quarter-finalists: £17,500
• Losers in the last 16: £12,500

History

Despite first coming into fruition in 1978, 2025 will mark just the 15th staging of the Champion of Champions, although it has been held every year since returning to the calendar in 2013.

Unsurprisingly, O'Sullivan is the record four-time winner of the Champion of Champions, claiming back-to-back titles in 2013 and 2014 before adding further successes in 2018 and 2022.

Australian Robertson and Mark Allen are the only other players to have lifted the trophy more than once. The Thunder from Down Under triumphing in 2015 and 2019, while Pistol's win in 2023 followed his success in 2020.

Ray Reardon (1978) and Doug Mountjoy (1980) were the first two winners of the tournament, while since its return to the calendar, John Higgins (2016), Murphy (2017), Trump (2021), and Williams (2024) have all triumphed once apiece.

Champion of Champions previous winners list