After more than three weeks of action in Leicester, Championship League Snooker finally concludes on Wednesday with the final group stages of the draw.
The last eight contenders for the 2024/25 snooker season’s opening ranking title will do battle for the top prize.
The champion will take home £33,000 in total prize money from the tournament – by no means the richest jackpot on the calendar but a useful way to commence a fresh campaign nonetheless.
The third and final stage sees the remaining eight players divided into two further groups of four, with the table toppers then facing off against each other for the trophy.
The title-deciding encounter will be played under the sprint best-of-five frame format.
Final Group 1
Mark Williams
Ali Carter
Scott Donaldson
Martin O’Donnell
Mark Williams emerged from the Championship League Snooker draw in 2023 to reach the final, where he eventually lost to Shaun Murphy.
The Welshman will be hoping to go one better this time around as he bids for a 27th career ranking title.
As the fourth seed, Williams represents the highest ranked player left in the running, but fifth seed Ali Carter is also in his final group.
The Captain, attempting to secure a sixth ranking crown, has been a consistent force on the World Snooker Tour over the last couple of seasons and would undoubtedly like more silverware to show for it.
Scott Donaldson also features in this group, with the Scott on course to complete a Championship League double having already captured the invitational version of this tournament back in 2020.
Martin O’Donnell, meanwhile, completes the foursome – the Londoner back at the business end of another event as he proves that his run to the Welsh Open final last term was no fluke.
Final Group 2
David Gilbert
Jackson Page
David Lilley
Long Zehuang
David Gilbert is the only player among the final eight in the draw who has won the ranking event version of Championship League Snooker in the past.
There will be some who believe that his name is already destined to be etched onto the trophy again this year following his remarkable escape from Stage One last week.
Gilbert will come up against three players at varying stages of their careers who are each trying to land a maiden professional title.
Still only 22, Jackson Page remains on course to secure a triumph and a breakthrough that many people had predicted of the Welshman from an early age.
At the other end of the spectrum is David Lilley, who aged 48 has advanced to the last eight of a ranking event for only the second time in his career.
Long Zehuang completes the quartet, the Chinese cueist bettering his run to the last 16 of last season’s Snooker Shoot Out in what was his rookie campaign on the circuit.
Championship League Snooker
Stage One Draw
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 |
| Scott Donaldson | He Guoqiang | Shaun Murphy | Mark Williams |
| Group 5 | Group 6 | Group 7 | Group 8 |
| Ali Carter | Gary Wilson | Robbie McGuigan | Jak Jones |
| Group 9 | Group 10 | Group 11 | Group 12 |
| Ma Hailong | Jackson Page | Ryan Day | Jack Lisowski |
| Group 13 | Group 14 | Group 15 | Group 16 |
| Si Jiahui | Hossein Vafaei | David Gilbert | Fan Zhengyi |
| Group 17 | Group 18 | Group 19 | Group 20 |
| Chris Wakelin | Stuart Bingham | Long Zehuang | Stuart Carrington |
| Group 21 | Group 22 | Group 23 | Group 24 |
| Neil Robertson | Joe O’Connor | Michael White | Martin O’Donnell |
| Group 25 | Group 26 | Group 27 | Group 28 |
| Matthew Stevens | Alexander Ursenbacher | David Lilley | Wu Yize |
| Group 29 | Group 30 | Group 31 | Group 32 |
| Ben Woollaston | Jamie Jones | Ashley Carty | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
Stage Two
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Scott Donaldson | David Gilbert | Long Zehuang | Mark Williams |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| Ali Carter | David Lilley | Jackson Page | Martin O’Donnell |
Stage Three
| Final Group 1 | Final Group 2 |
| Ali Carter | Jackson Page |
Final (bo5)
Ali Carter 3-1 Jackson Page
Featured photo credit: WST
