# 2025 Players Championship (snooker)

The 2025 Players Championship (officially the 2025 Sportsbet.io Players Championship) is a professional snooker tournament that is taking place from 17 to 23 March 2025 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. The 16th ranking event of the 2024‍–‍25 season, following the World Grand Prix and preceding the Tour Championship, it is the second of three events in the Players Series. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by the crypto betting firm Sportsbet.io, the event is being broadcast by ITV and ITVX domestically, by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe, and by other broadcasters worldwide. The winner will receive £150,000 from a total prize fund of £500,000.
The event features the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list as it stood after the World Grand Prix. Mark Allen won the 2024 event, defeating Zhang Anda 10‍–‍8 in the final, but was beaten 3‍–‍6 by Kyren Wilson in the first round.

## Format

The event is taking place from 17 to 23 March 2025 at the Telford International Centre in Telford, England. It features the top 16 players on the one-year ranking list as it stood after the 2025 World Grand Prix.
The matches are played as the best of 11 frames until the final, which will be the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions.

### Broadcasters

The event is being broadcast by ITV and ITVX in the UK; TNT Sports in Ireland; Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe (excluding the UK and Ireland); Liaoning TV, Migu, and Huya in Mainland China; Now TV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; TrueVisions in Thailand; Sportcast in Taiwan; Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; and WST Play in all other territories.

### Prize fund

The event features a prize pool of £500,000 with the winner receiving £150,000, a 30% increase in prize money compared to last year's edition. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:
* Winner: £150,000
* Runner-up: £70,000
* Semi-final: £35,000
* Quarter-final: £20,000
* Last 16: £15,000
* Highest break: £10,000
* Total: £500,000

### Seeding list

Unlike other events where the defending champion is seeded first, the reigning World Champion second, and the rest based on the world rankings, the qualification and seedings in the Players Series tournaments are determined by the one-year ranking list. The below list shows the top-16 players with the most ranking points acquired during the 2024‍–‍25 season, as of after the 2025 World Grand Prix:
| Seed | Player | Points |
| 1 | Judd Trump (ENG) | 993,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson (ENG) | 541,800 |
| 3 | Neil Robertson (AUS) | 407,050 |
| 4 | John Higgins (SCO) | 333,750 |
| 5 | Xiao Guodong (CHN) | 306,500 |
| 6 | Mark Selby (ENG) | 285,000 |
| 7 | Mark Williams (WAL) | 265,600 |
| 8 | Barry Hawkins (ENG) | 261,550 |
| Seed | Player | Points |
| 9 | Shaun Murphy (ENG) | 257,900 |
| 10 | Ding Junhui (CHN) | 235,000 |
| 11 | Si Jiahui (CHN) | 219,200 |
| 12 | Wu Yize (CHN) | 205,600 |
| 13 | Chris Wakelin (ENG) | 194,000 |
| 14 | Stuart Bingham (ENG) | 169,400 |
| 15 | Mark Allen (NIR) | 163,400 |
| 16 | Lei Peifan (CHN) | 161,000 |

## Summary
### First round

The first-round matches were played from 17 to 19 March as the best of 11 frames. Current world champion Kyren Wilson played the defending champion Mark Allen, in which Allen produced a 125 break in the second frame, but Wilson went on to win the match 6‍‍–‍3. Mark Williams beat Ding Junhui 6‍‍–‍2. Having defeated Ding, Williams faced the "Ding Junhui curse" playing Wilson in the quarter-finals. The "curse" is that in all the matches that Ding has lost this season, the player who beat him has lost in the next round.
Neil Robertson played Stuart Bingham on 18 March. When the draw for the tournament was announced shortly after a whitewash for Robertson over Bingham in the 2025 World Grand Prix final, it was dubbed by the press that Bingham was "handed the chance for revenge on Neil Robertson that he wanted." Robertson defeated Bingham 6‍–‍4, and Mark Selby beat Si Jiahui 6‍–‍3 making breaks of 128 and 132. Shaun Murphy beat Barry Hawkins 6‍–‍4, and Judd Trump defeated Lei Peifan 6‍–‍2 making breaks of 114 and 139.
Xiao Guodong beat Wu Yize, and John Higgins beat Chris Wakelin, both matches by a score of 6‍–‍5, with both Wu and Wakelin making century breaks while Xiao and Higgins did not.

### Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals are being played from 19 to 21 March as the best of 11 frames.
Kyren Wilson beat Mark Williams 6‍–‍3, as the "Ding Junhui curse" continues. Mark Williams has previously spoken about his deteriorating eyesight in a post-match interview, citing it as one of the main reason that affects his performance during the tournament.

### Semi-finals

The semi-finals will be played on 21 and 22 March as the best of 11 frames.

### Final

The final will be played on 23 March as the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions.

## Tournament draw

Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seedings, and players in bold denote match winners. All matches are played as the best of 11 frames except the final, which is played as the best of 19 frames.
| First round Best of 11 frames | First round Best of 11 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 11 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 11 frames | Semi-finals Best of 11 frames | |
| Judd Trump (ENG) (1) | 6 | | | | |
| Lei Peifan (CHN) (16) | 2 | | | | |
| Lei Peifan (CHN) (16) | 2 | Judd Trump (1) | | | |
| | | Shaun Murphy (9) | | | |
| Barry Hawkins (ENG) (8) | 4 | Shaun Murphy (9) | | | |
| Shaun Murphy (ENG) (9) | 6 | | | | |
| Xiao Guodong (CHN) (5) | 6 | | | | |
| Wu Yize (CHN) (12) | 5 | | | | |
| Wu Yize (CHN) (12) | 5 | Xiao Guodong (5) | | | |
| | | John Higgins (4) | | | |
| John Higgins (SCO) (4) | 6 | John Higgins (4) | | | |
| Chris Wakelin (ENG) (13) | 5 | | | | |
| Neil Robertson (AUS) (3) | 6 | | | | |
| Stuart Bingham (ENG) (14) | 4 | | | | |
| Stuart Bingham (ENG) (14) | 4 | Neil Robertson (3) | | | |
| | | Mark Selby (6) | | | |
| Mark Selby (ENG) (6) | 6 | Mark Selby (6) | | | |
| Si Jiahui (CHN) (11) | 3 | | | | |
| | | | | Kyren Wilson (2) | |
| Mark Williams (WAL) (7) | 6 | | | | Kyren Wilson (2) |
| Ding Junhui (CHN) (10) | 2 | | | | |
| Ding Junhui (CHN) (10) | 2 | Mark Williams (7) | 3 | | |
| | | Kyren Wilson (2) | 6 | | |
| Kyren Wilson (ENG) (2) | 6 | Kyren Wilson (2) | 6 | | |
| Mark Allen (NIR) (15) | 3 | | | | |

## Century breaks

A total of 12 century breaks have been made in the tournament.
* 139, 114 – Judd Trump
* 132, 128 – Mark Selby
* 131, 104 – Wu Yize
* 129 – Chris Wakelin
* 125 – Mark Allen
* 123 – Shaun Murphy
* 112 – Stuart Bingham
* 108 – Barry Hawkins
* 102 – Lei Peifan