The Players Championship rankings race concludes this week with the 16-player field set to be confirmed following the conclusion of the upcoming German Masters.
Based on the money-list rankings from this season alone, only the most in-form competitors from the campaign will take part in the lucrative ranking tournament in Wolverhampton early next month.
Hossein Vafaei’s maiden ranking success in the Snooker Shoot Out on Sunday ensures that the Iranian will feature at the Aldersley Leisure Village.
Defending champion John Higgins will also definitely be in the competition alongside the likes of World Grand Prix champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, English Open winner Neil Robertson, and British Open victor Mark Williams.
Mark Allen, Zhao Xintong, and Luca Brecel are other notable names who will definitely be participating in the competition that carries a top prize worth £125,000.
However, there are several heavy-hitters who will need a solid showing at the Tempodrom this week to guarantee their spots in the Players Championship race.
Judd Trump is currently in 12th place provisionally but only boats a £5,500 advantage over Anthony McGill, who stands just outside the reckoning in 17th.
World number one and reigning world champion Mark Selby is in danger of missing out as things stand, languishing below the cut-off line in 18th provisionally.
The likes of Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy are other familiar faces who have work to do in Germany if they are to qualify for the Players Championship.
Stuart Bingham, in 20th place overall, is the only current top 16 member who certainly won’t be involved in the second leg of the Cazoo Series having failed to qualify for Berlin.
There is an £80,000 champion’s cheque on offer for the German Masters winner, £35,000 for the runner-up, and £20,000 for the losing semi-finalists, so a lot can still change in the Players Championship rankings before the end of the week’s play.
Provisional Players Championship Rankings
Prior to the start of the German Masters
| 1 | Zhao Xintong | £215,000 |
| 2 | Luca Brecel | £182,000 |
| 3 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £175,000 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £145,000 |
| 5 | Mark Allen | £123,500 |
| 6 | Neil Robertson | £118,000 |
| 7 | John Higgins | £114,000 |
| 8 | David Gilbert | £95,500 |
| 9 | Hossein Vafaei | £91,500 |
| 10 | Kyren Wilson | £75,000 |
| 11 | Gary Wilson | £72,000 |
| 12 | Judd Trump | £63,000 |
| 13 | Jimmy Robertson | £62,500 |
| 14 | Yan Bingtao | £62,000 |
| 15 | Ricky Walden | £62,000 |
| 16 | Barry Hawkins | £59,500 |
| – – – | – – – | – – – |
| 17 | Anthony McGill | £57,500 |
| 18 | Mark Selby | £57,000 |
| 19 | Stephen Maguire | £53,000 |
| 22 | Tom Ford | £45,000 |
| 26 | Noppon Saengkham | £40,000 |
| 34 | Liam Highfield | £28,000 |
| 35 | Zhou Yuelong | £28,000 |
| 36 | Shaun Murphy | £27,500 |
| 38 | Sam Craigie | £25,000 |
| 51 | Ryan Day | £20,000 |
| 59 | Michael Georgiou | £17,000 |
| 66 | Ken Doherty | £15,000 |
| 72 | Fan Zhengyi | £14,000 |
| 82 | Craig Steadman | £12,500 |
| 89 | Lyu Haotian | £11,500 |
| 97 | Andrew Higginson | £10,000 |
| 102 | Zhang Anda | £8,500 |
| 103 | Barry Pinches | £8,500 |
| 121 | Kurt Maflin | £4,000 |
Featured photo credit: WST
