More dates for the 2022/23 snooker calendar have been confirmed.
The World Snooker Tour released its updated provisional snooker calendar for the recently started 2022/23 campaign a few days ago.
Prior to the start of the new term, there were still plenty of empty slots on the calendar and no official dates for most of the second half after the new year.
However, the schedule now has a much fuller feel to it, with many familiar tournaments returning to the programme.
Last week, the ranking event edition of the Championship League launched the season after a couple of months of no play on the Main Tour.
There are 15 ranking events pencilled in at the moment, which is a decent amount considering events in China appear to be off the table for another year.
All eyes will of course be on the World Snooker Championship next April when Ronnie O’Sullivan will bid for a record-breaking eighth world title.
The UK Championship has dates in November this year so it doesn’t clash with the World Cup in Qatar.
All four Home Nations series events will feature again, with the Northern Ireland Open the first in October, followed by similar Opens in Scotland, England, and Wales.
After the Championship League is completed at the end of this month, the first ranking event that incoporates the traditional knockout format will take place in August with the European Masters.
The German Masters and the Snooker Shoot Out will also be back, and alongside the Championship League, the European Masters, and the Home Nations tournaments, these eight tournaments will make up the BetVictor Series.
The newly named Players Series, meanwhile, will see cueists scrap off the one-year rankings – comprising the World Grand Prix, Players Championship, and Tour Championship.
The British Open is also back for the second successive season, taking place in September in Milton Keynes, with the Turkish Masters in March.
The Masters will once again be the flagship invitational tournament in January at the Alexandra Palace, with the Champion of Champions set for the first week of November.
An exciting new World Mixed Doubles competition will boast the four best men’s players and the four best women’s players of the game in September.
All dates below are provisional and subject to change.
Provisional 2022/23 Snooker Calendar
(R = ranking; NR = non-ranking)
| Date | Event | Location |
| 28 Jun – 29 Jul | Championship League (R) | Leicester |
| 16 Aug – 21 Aug | European Masters (R) | Fürth |
| 5 Sept – 10 Sept | Six Red World Championship (NR) | Bangkok |
| 24 Sept – 25 Sept | World Mixed Doubles (NR) | Milton Keynes |
| 26 Sept – 2 Sept | British Open (R) | Milton Keynes |
| 16 Oct – 23 Oct | Northern Ireland Open (R) | Belfast |
| 31 Oct – 6 Nov | Champion of Champions (NR) | TBC |
| 12 Nov – 20 Nov | UK Championship (R) | York |
| 23 Nov – 4 Dec | Scottish Open (R) | TBC |
| 6 Dec – 9 Dec | Championship League 1+2 (NR) | TBC |
| 12 Dec – 18 Dec | English Open (R) | Brentwood |
| 19 Dec – 22 Dec | Championship League 3+4 (NR) | TBC |
| 3 Jan – 6 Jan | Championship League 5+6 (NR) | TBC |
| 8 Jan – 15 Jan | Masters (NR) | London |
| 16 Jan – 22 Jan | World Grand Prix (R) | Cheltenham |
| 26 Jan – 29 Jan | Shoot Out (R) | Leicester |
| 1 Feb – 5 Feb | German Masters (R) | Berlin |
| 13 Feb – 19 Feb | Welsh Open (R) | Llandudno |
| 20 Feb – 26 Feb | Players Championship (R) | Wolverhampton |
| 6 Mar – 9 Mar | Championship League 1+2 (NR) | TBC |
| 13 Mar – 19 Mar | Turkish Masters (R) | Turkey |
| 27 Mar – 2 Apr | Tour Championship (R) | Hull |
| Apr 3 – Apr 12 | World Championship Qualifiers | Sheffield |
| 15 Apr – 1 May | World Championship (R) | Sheffield |
Featured photo credit: WPBSA
I’m a little underwhelmed by the schedule for the first few months. It’s mainly the tedious Championship League and batches of qualifiers. I’m not criticising World Snooker too greatly as obviously the Chinese situation is not their fault, but couldn’t they have perhaps tried to bring an event or two forward? The season’s calendar looks a little lopsided.
Does anyone else notice something a little bonkers about the dates of the English Open?
There are still a lot of tournaments to be fitted in – Cazoo Series events, GM, Welsh, Shoot Out, Turkey. The second half will fill up. But I agree that the start of the season is poor. Somebody in the past, perhaps you, mentioned the idea of starting the season off with the Champion of Champions. To me that makes a lot of sense, but it’ll probably never happen.
That actually wasn’t me but definitely like the suggestion!
I totally agree after Christmas it will be big events one after another. It’s just a worrying pattern developing that the season is becoming a little light in the first few months.
My answer to the English Open question is it clashes with the final week of the World Cup. The two finals are actually on the same day. If England make it, Brentwood Leisure Centre will be the ref and the two players probably! The World Cup will probably hamper ticket sales in addition to the proximity of Christmas.
You haven’t included the qualifiers.
Strange to see that all the Home Nations events have qualifiers in England!