Players Series
Tournament information
CountryUnited Kingdom
Established2019
Organisation(s)World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
FormatRanking events
Current champion Shaun Murphy (ENG)

The Players Series is a bonus competition for players who have earned the most money in a series of professional snooker tournaments.[1] The series involves three events: the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship. It was established in 2019.

Overview

In the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, the series was sponsored by Coral and was called the Coral Cup. In the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, it was sponsored by Cazoo and named the Cazoo Series. In the 2022–23 season, it was sponsored by crypto casino Duelbits and named the Duelbits Series.[2] With the exception of the 2019–20 season, there has been no monetary bonus for earning the most money over the three events: the only winner of an additional monetary bonus was Stephen Maguire, who gained £100,000 for earning the most money in the series, most of the earnings having come from winning the 2020 Tour Championship, the highest earning event in the series.

Unlike traditional ranking events, qualification is based on results from the single-season list, rather than by world rankings.[3] The number of competitors for each event shortens, with 32 players participating in the Grand Prix, 16 in the Players Championship, and 12 (previously eight) in the Tour Championship.[4] The series was sponsored and named after betting company Coral, until 2021, when car retailer Cazoo took over sponsorship.[5] Their sponsorship of the Players' Series was abruptly stopped in the 2022–23 snooker season, as a result of its own financial issues that led it to pull out from a number of other sponorships in other sports, including snooker. In its place, Duelbits was selected to sponsor the Players' Series for that season, which was announced on the day of the 2023 World Grand Prix commencing.

In the 2019–2020 snooker season, the player who earned the most prize money across all three events in the series was awarded a prize fund of £100,000 and the "Coral Cup". Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Coral ceasing its involvement in sponsoring snooker events, the bonus was discontinued.[6]

For the 2021–22 season, players who lose in the first round of any of the Cazoo Series events receive ranking points equalling their prize money. This is a change from previous incarnations where losing in the first round gave prize money only and no ranking points. However, should a player qualify for one of the events in the series, but does not play their opening match, the player receives neither prize money nor ranking points.[7] WST later confirmed that this change would apply to the 2022–23 snooker season.[8]

Winners

Season Cup winner Ref.
2018–19  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)[9][10][11]
2019–20  Stephen Maguire (SCO)[12][13][14]
2020–21  Neil Robertson (AUS)[15][16][17]
2021–22  Neil Robertson (AUS)[18][19][20]
2022–23  Shaun Murphy (ENG)[21][22][23]

Winners

Season Tournament Winner Runner-up Score City Refs
Coral Cup
2018–19 2019 World Grand Prix  Judd Trump (ENG)  Ali Carter (ENG) 10–6 Cheltenham [9]
2019 Players Championship  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 10–4 Preston [10]
2019 Tour Championship  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 13–11 Llandudno [11]
2019–20 2020 World Grand Prix (1)  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Graeme Dott (SCO) 10–8 Cheltenham [12]
2020 Players Championship  Judd Trump (ENG)  Yan Bingtao (CHN) 10–4 Southport [13]
2020 Tour Championship  Stephen Maguire (SCO)  Mark Allen (NIR) 10–6 Milton Keynes [14]
Cazoo Series
2020–21 2020 World Grand Prix (2)  Judd Trump (ENG)  Jack Lisowski (ENG) 10–7 Milton Keynes [15]
2021 Players Championship  John Higgins (SCO)  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 10–3 Milton Keynes [16]
2021 Tour Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 10–4 Newport [17]
2021–22 2021 World Grand Prix  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 10–8 Coventry [18]
2022 Players Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Barry Hawkins (ENG) 10–5 Wolverhampton [19]
2022 Tour Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  John Higgins (SCO) 10–9 Llandudno [20]
Players Series
2022–23 2023 World Grand Prix  Mark Allen (NIR)  Judd Trump (ENG) 10–9 Cheltenham [21]
2023 Players Championship  Shaun Murphy (ENG)  Ali Carter (ENG) 10–4 Wolverhampton [22]
2023 Tour Championship  Shaun Murphy (ENG)  Kyren Wilson (ENG) 10–7 Hull [23]
2023–24 2024 World Grand Prix Leicester
2024 Players Championship Telford
2024 Tour Championship Manchester

Statistics

Champions

Player Total World
Grand Prix		 Players
Championship		 Tour
Championship		 Winning
span
Australia Neil Robertson 41122020–2022
England Judd Trump 32102019–2020
England Ronnie O'Sullivan 31112019–2021
England Shaun Murphy 20112023
Scotland Stephen Maguire 10012020
Scotland John Higgins 10102021
Northern Ireland Mark Allen 11002023
Total events 15 5 5 5 2019–2023

References

  1. ↑ "The Coral Series - Everything You Need to Know - WPBSA". WPBSA. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Duelbits Joins Forces With WST". World Snooker. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "Race to the World Grand Prix - SnookerHQ". SnookerHQ. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Tour Championship Snooker 2019: Draw, schedule, betting odds, results, & TV coverage". sportinglife.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Car Retailer Cazoo to Sponsor Snooker Series". 2 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "Coral Players Championship - World Snooker". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  7. ↑ "Cazoo Series - Ranking Points". World Snooker Tour. 14 September 2021. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "PRIZE MONEY WORLD RANKINGS SCHEDULE 2022/2023 SEASON" (PDF). World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Trump Champion In Cheltenham – World Snooker". World Snooker. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Ronnie O'Sullivan reaches 1,000 career centuries and wins Players Championship". BBC Sport. 10 March 2019. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Snooker – O'Sullivan on top of the world after Tour Championship win". Reuters. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  12. 1 2 9 February 2020 (9 February 2020). "Dott Dashed By Five–Ton Robertson". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. 1 2 "Trump beats Yan Bingtao to win Players Championship". BBC Sport. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Magnificent Maguire Ends Title Drought". World Snooker. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  15. 1 2 "Trump Beats Lisowski To Win 20th Ranking Title". World Snooker. 20 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  16. 1 2 "Higgins thrashes O'Sullivan in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Relentless Robertson Storms To Tour Title". World Snooker Tour. 28 March 2021.
  18. 1 2 "Ronnie O'Sullivan Produces Stirring Evening Fightback To Beat Neil Robertson To Win Final". Eurosport. 19 December 2021. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Robertson Lands Maiden Players Crown". World Snooker Tour. 13 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  20. 1 2 "Epic Robertson Fightback Stuns Higgins". World Snooker Tour. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  21. 1 2 "Allen Edges Trump in Epic". World Snooker Tour. 22 January 2023.
  22. 1 2 "Magician Back in Winners' Circle". World Snooker Tour. 26 February 2023.
  23. 1 2 "Tour Triumph For Magnificent Murphy". World Snooker Tour. 2 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
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