 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Established | 2016 |
| Organisation(s) | World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association |
| Format | Ranking events |
The Home Nations Series is a snooker tournament series in the four home nations of the United Kingdom.[1] It began in the 2016–17 snooker season, combining two existing tournaments, the Scottish Open and Welsh Open, with two newly created tournaments, the English Open and Northern Ireland Open.
History
On 29 April 2015, Barry Hearn, chairman of World Snooker announced that from the 2016–17 snooker season on, a "Home Nations Series" would be added to the season's calendar. The Home Nations Series includes the tournaments of the four individual countries of the home of snooker: the English Open, the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open and the Welsh Open. There was a special bonus of £1 million on offer to the player who would win all four tournaments in the same season, but in 2020 it has been dropped in light of the then ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[2] So far, the highest number of tournaments won in the same season is two, with Mark Selby winning the English and the Scottish Open in the 2019–20 season, and Judd Trump winning the English and the Northern Ireland Open in the 2020–21 season and the 2023–24 season.
The Home Nations Series awards two wildcards to amateur players.[3] The four national governing bodies select the wildcard players according to criteria that they have previously agreed with the WPBSA. The first round of the Home Nations was changed for the 2021-22 season, whereby the first round is now a qualification round for all players not in the top 16. However, the top 16 would play their qualification round at the venue instead of elsewhere.[4]
Events and trophies
The trophies of the individual tournaments are named after well-known snooker players of the respective countries:
- At the English Open: the Steve Davis trophy.[5]
- At the Northern Ireland Open: the Alex Higgins trophy.[6]
- At the Scottish Open: the Stephen Hendry trophy.[7]
- At the Welsh Open: the Ray Reardon trophy.[8]
Format
All tournaments are ranking tournaments of the World Snooker Tour and are played with 128 players. After first nominating all professional players, the wildcard players will be nominated and finally top-up players from the Q School order of merit. Up to and including the last 16, the matches are played as best-of-seven frames, in the quarter-finals as best-of-nine, semi-finals as best-of-eleven frames, and in the final best-of-seventeen. As of the 2021-22 season, the last 128 round has been changed to a qualifying round, where players outside of the top 16 have to win a match in order to play at the final venue. The top 16 still play in the qualifying round, however, their matches are held over to be played at the final venue.
Results
Statistics
Champions
| Player | Total | English Open |
Northern Ireland Open |
Scottish Open |
Welsh Open |
Winning span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Judd Trump (ENG) |
6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2018–2023 |
| Mark Selby (ENG) |
4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2019–2022 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Neil Robertson (AUS) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2017–2021 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Mark Allen (NIR) |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2018–2022 |
| Stuart Bingham (ENG) |
2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2017–2018 |
| Gary Wilson (ENG) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2022–2023 |
 Liang Wenbo (CHN) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2016 |
| Mark King (ENG) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2016 |
 Marco Fu (HKG) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2016 |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2017 |
 Mark Williams (WAL) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2017 |
 John Higgins (SCO) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2018 |
| Shaun Murphy (ENG) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2020 |
| Jordan Brown (NIR) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2021 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Luca Brecel (BEL) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2021 |
| Joe Perry (ENG) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2022 |
| Robert Milkins (ENG) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2023 |
| Total events | 31 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2016–2023 |
References
- ↑ "Home Nations Series". Livesnooker.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ↑ Slater, Nigel (23 October 2020). "Barry Hearn reveals why he's dropped snooker's £1 million bonus". theoldgreenbaize.com.
- ↑ "Home Nations Snooker Events To Include Wild Cards - World Snooker". Worldsnooker.com. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ↑ "2021-22 Snooker Calendar Announced". wst.tv. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
- ↑ "English Open snooker trophy named after Steve Davis". World Snooker Tour. 26 Sep 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ↑ "Northern Ireland Open trophy to be named after Alex Higgins". World Snooker Tour. 27 Sep 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ↑ "Scottish Open trophy named after Stephen Hendry". World Snooker Tour. 30 Sep 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
- ↑ "Welsh Open trophy honour for Reardon". World Snooker Tour. 28 Sep 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
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