Championship League Winners' Group: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Seven players remain in the hunt for this season's Championship League silverware and a star-studded field has been assembled for the Winners' Group, with three of the world’s top four in attendance.

Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby all make the trip to the Leicester Arena after successfully navigating their way through the group phase of the competition and they are joined by Hossein Vafaei, Si Jiahui, Matthew Selt and Xiao Guodong.

Selby is the defending champion having defeated fellow Leicester cueman Joe O'Connor in last season’s final, while Trump was runner-up to John Higgins in 2023 and will have high hopes of going one better.

Trump is a three-time winner of the prize since the inaugural event in 2008, while reigning world champion Wilson landed the prize in 2021, although the other four members are bidding to break new ground in the Championship League.

The format sees the seven players compete in six round-robin matches over a best-of-five format before the top four advance to the semi-finals.

The first-placed player from the table will play fourth in the semi-finals, with second meeting third, and the two victors will then collide in a best-of-five frame final.

Championship League betting tips and predictions

Mark Selby to win the Championship League - 7/2

There is plenty to suggest that Selby can make a successful Championship League defence, especially as he has won 11 of his 14 matches in this season’s competition to book his final ticket.

Players get two tries to successfully come through one of the groups in the regular phase of the competition and Selby won all five matches in Group 3 before losing his semi-final clash with Jak Jones.

However, Selby avenged that defeat in Group 4, coming past O'Connor and then Jones to make his appearance in the Winners’ Group.

While the British Open remains the Jester from Leicester’s only piece of silverware this season, he has been far more consistent than that with six further appearances in at least the quarter-finals.

Selby appears much happier off the table and therefore is playing better stuff, showing glimpses of why he is a four-time world champion.

While it can be suggested that a longer format remains Selby’s strength, he has had no trouble dealing with a best-of-five here in recent seasons and he could be fresher than a few of his opponents.

Selby was an early casualty at the recent German Masters so should have had plenty of time to recover, unlike Wilson who won that title late on Sunday evening in a final-frame decider against Barry Hawkins.

That came on the back of a run to The Masters final where he lost to Shaun Murphy, so the Warrior has been busy and could be vulnerable here as a result.

Three-time champion Trump has to be feared given he appears to go deep in virtually every tournament he contests in nowadays, although there may be too much disparity in price between him and Selby.

Si Jiahui to win the Championship League - 7/1

Trump, Wilson and Selby clearly hold a massive advantage over their rivals but, if there is to be an upset, then perhaps Si Jiahui is the man to spring it.

The Chinese cueman announced his emergence with a run to the World Championship semi-final in 2023 and he has since proven that to be no fluke, with runner-up efforts at last season’s German Masters and this season’s Wuhan Open.

A maiden ranking event title is clearly on the cards in the near future for the 22-year-old and he won seven of his eight matches to win Group 2 in January, so clearly has no trouble adjusting to the shorter format.

Si is a supremely gifted player and, when on a roll he is tough to stop, so a strong start to proceedings at the Leicester Arena could see him take all the beating.

Read more snooker betting tips and predictions on site

Championship League odds

Judd Trump - 9/4
Mark Selby - 7/2
Kyren Wilson - 7/2
Xiao Guodong - 6/1
Si Jiahui - 7/1
Hossein Vafaei - 10/1
Matthew Selt - 14/1

View the full market and more odds for Championship League on site

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.