2024 World Snooker Championship


The 2024 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2024. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the 17th and final ranking event of the 202324 season. The title sponsor was car retailer Cazoo, so the tournament was promoted as the 2024 Cazoo World Snooker Championship.
Staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the tournament was the 48th consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the venue, where it has taken place annually since 1977. The qualifying rounds were played from 8 to 17 April at the English Institute of Sport, also in Sheffield. The event was broadcast domestically in the United Kingdom by the BBC, Eurosport and Discovery+, and by various other broadcasters worldwide. The winner received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000.
Kyren Wilson won the event, defeating qualifier Jak Jones 1814 in the final to become the 28th snooker world champion. The defending champion, Luca Brecel, who had defeated Mark Selby in the 2023 final for his first world title, lost in the first round to David Gilbert and became the 19th player to experience the so-called "Crucible curse". There were 63 century breaks compiled in the main stage of the tournament, with a further 122 recorded in the qualifying rounds. Noppon Saengkham made a maximum break in the third round of qualifying.

Background

The first World Snooker Championship concluded in 1927. It became an annual knockout tournament in 1969, which is considered the beginning of the championship's "modern era". The 1977 tournament was the first to be staged at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, which has hosted every subsequent iteration.
The 2024 event was organised by the World Snooker Tour. The title sponsor was car retailer Cazoo, for the second time, so it was promoted as the 2024 Cazoo World Snooker Championship. It was the 48th consecutive year that the tournament was held at the Crucible and the 56th successive year that the World Championship had been contested through the modern knockout format.
Luca Brecel was the defending champion, having defeated Mark Selby 1815 in the 2023 final to win his first world title. At the 2024 event, he attempted to overcome the Crucible curse, which has allegedly prevented any champion from retaining the title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977.

Format

Qualifying took place from 8 to 17 April 2024 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England. A total of 128 players competed over four qualifying rounds for 16 places in the main stage. The players included professionals outside the top 16 of the snooker world rankings and 18 leading amateur players. Several professional players that did not enter the qualifying rounds were replaced by amateurs based on the 2023 Q School Order of Merit.
The main stage of the championship was held from 20 April to 6 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The top 16 players in the world rankings were seeded per their standing following the 2024 Tour Championship and were drawn randomly against the 16 successful qualifiers in the first round. The draw was broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live on 18 April.
All qualifying matches and first-round matches were played as the best of 19 over two. Second-round matches and quarter-finals were the best of 25 frames, played over three sessions. were the best of 33 frames and the final was the best of 35 frames, all three matches played over four sessions.

Broadcasters

The qualifying matches were broadcast by Discovery+ in Europe ; Huya in China; and Matchroom.live in all other territories. Round four of qualifying, called "Judgement Day", was also streamed on World Snooker Tour's YouTube and Facebook pages.
The main stages of the event were broadcast by the BBC in the United Kingdom; Discovery+ and Eurosport in Europe ; CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya in mainland China; DAZN in the United States and Brazil; Now TV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; TrueVisions in Thailand; Sportcast in Taiwan; Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; Fastsports in Pakistan; and Matchroom.live in all other territories.

Prize fund

The winner of the event received £500,000 from a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:
  • Winner: £500,000
  • Runner-up: £200,000
  • Semi-finalists: £100,000
  • Quarter-finalists: £50,000
  • Last 16: £30,000
  • Last 32: £20,000
  • Last 48: £15,000
  • Last 80: £10,000
  • Last 112: £5,000
  • Highest : £15,000
  • Total: £2,395,000
A bonus of £40,000 was offered for a maximum break made at the Crucible and £10,000 for a maximum made in the qualifying rounds. These bonuses were in addition to the £15,000 prize and would be shared in the case of multiple maximums. An additional bonus of £147,000 was offered for any player making two maximum breaks during the season's Triple Crown events. The latter bonus could be won up to three times, including multiple times by the same player, e.g. if one player made six maximums in Triple Crown events, they would win the bonus three times, for a total prize of £441,000. Prior to the 2024 World Championship, three players had already made maximums that counted toward this bonus—Xu Si made a maximum in the 2023 UK Championship qualifying rounds, and Ding Junhui and Mark Allen each made one at the 2024 Masters. Xu was defeated by Alfie Burden in qualifying, Ding was beaten by Jack Lisowski in the first round, and Allen was defeated by John Higgins in the second round.

Summary

Qualifying

Qualifying was held from 8 to 17 April at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The champion Stephen Hendry chose not to enter. He had previously opted not to enter the 2022 event, and lost in the first qualifying round at the 2023 event. Martin Gould withdrew from the tournament for health reasons, having not played professionally since December 2023; his opponent, Jimmy White, received a walkover. Ending the season at 129th and 81st place, respectively, in the world rankings, Hendry and Gould were both set to be relegated from the professional tour, but Gould was later given a extension on medical grounds.

First qualification round

The first qualifying round took place from 8 to 10 April and featured players ranked 81st to 112th against players ranked 113th and below, plus selected amateurs, including three players who had received tour cards, playing as professionals for the first time beginning in the 202425 season. Liam Davies won the 2024 EBSA European Championship to earn his tour card. He defeated Ryan Thomerson 103. Cheung Ka Wai, aged 25, and Bulcsú Révész, aged 17, won the 2024 WSF Open Championship and the 2024 WSF World Junior Championship, respectively, for their tour cards. Cheung led Ross Muir 96, but Muir recovered to win 109. Révész, who is the first Hungarian player on the professional tour, trailed Sean O'Sullivan 16 but took nine of the next 11 frames to win the match 108. Of the 18 amateur players, five progressed to the second round. In addition to Davies and Révész, Gao Yang beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha, Haydon Pinhey defeated Hammad Miah, and Mohammed Shehab beat Stan Moody.
Former Shoot Out winner Michael Holt secured his return to the tour in the 202425 season through the Q Tour, but he was defeated 106 by Xing Zihao. Ian Burns defeated Dean Young 101, while Alexander Ursenbacher beat Iulian Boiko in a 100 whitewash. Veteran player Fergal O'Brien, the 1999 British Open champion and at the 2001 Masters, had previously announced plans to retire at the end of the 202324 season. He lost 810 to Mostafa Dorgham.
Five female players took part in the tournament. Bai Yulu had won the 2024 World Women's Championship to earn a tour card beginning in the 202425 season. She played Jenson Kendrick, who led 62 after the first session. Bai narrowed her deficit to two frames at 79 and forced a in the 17th frame after acquiring foul points from a, but Kendrick potted the black to win 107. Reanne Evans, the Women's World Champion, was whitewashed 100 by Oliver Brown, while Baipat Siripaporn, the 2023 Women's World Champion, lost 110 to Marco Fu, a former World Championship. Mink Nutcharut, the 2022 Women's World Champion, led Adam Duffy 41, but Duffy won nine of the last ten frames for a 105 victory. Rebecca Kenna lost 110 to Alfie Burden.

Second qualification round

The second qualifying round took place from 10 to 13 April and featured players ranked 49th to 80th against the winners of the first qualification round. Two former winners started in the second qualification round. The 1997 champion Ken Doherty was defeated by Marco Fu, and the 2006 winner Graeme Dott defeated Mostafa Dorgham. Jimmy White was defeated by Liu Hongyu 310.
All five remaining amateur players lost in the second qualification round. Bulcsú Révész and Mohammed Shebab were the closest to progressing, losing 810 to James Cahill and Tian Pengfei, respectively. Two players were defeated on a. Liam Highfield was defeated by Stuart Carrington and Allan Taylor lost to Lukas Kleckers. Both Highfield and Taylor lost their professional status after being eliminated from the competition. The match between Taylor and Kleckers was decided on the final. Former European Masters winner Fan Zhengyi was defeated by Jiang Jun.

Third qualification round

The third qualifying round took place from 13 to 15 April and featured players ranked 17th to 48th against the winners of the second qualification round. Jack Lisowski entered in the third qualifying round, having been an automatic qualifier every year since 2018. He made four century breaks as he defeated Liu Hongyu 104. Former finalist Matthew Stevens defeated Jimmy Robertson 106. Anthony McGill lost 510 to He Guoqiang, having successfully qualified for the main event in each of the last nine seasons. Jenson Kendrick, who entered the first round of qualifying, defeated Jordan Brown, needing to qualify for the main stage to remain as a professional.
Noppon Saengkham, playing Andy Hicks, made a maximum break in the tenth frame and went 73 ahead, later winning 105. Stuart Bingham, who had appeared at the main stage every year since 2010, trailed Stuart Carrington 37 but recovered to win 109.