Luca Brecel will begin next season way down the rankings list after bowing out of the 2025 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield on Wednesday.
Brecel rediscovered some of his best form in the blue-riband event but suffered a 13-8 defeat to Judd Trump at the quarter-final stage.
The result will send the Belgian Bullet plummeting way down the rankings as he surrenders his status as a top 16 player.
Brecel was riding as high as number two on the official two-year snooker rankings list after his superb success at the Crucible Theatre in 2023.
There were even opportunities for him to go all the way to top spot had he been able to carry any of that form forward into the ensuing campaign.
Yet aside from a few good performances in the last few months, positive results on the main tour have generally been difficult to come by for the 30 year-old across the last two-year period.
Brecel has done okay in some of the invitation tournaments – notably reaching the final of the 2023 Shanghai Masters and also finishing runner-up at both Riyadh Season events in Saudi Arabia last year.
But the four-time ranking event winner has simultaneously suffered a string of early exits in ranking tournaments.
Indeed, his appearance in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in February marked the first time he had gone beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event since the 2023 World Championship.
As the snooker rankings operate on a rolling two-year system, Brecel’s £500,000 earnings from the Crucible a couple of years ago will now be deducted from his tally.
That huge sum was sustaining his elevated position in the standings, guaranteeing his spot at the Masters and an automatic ticket to this year’s edition of the World Championship.
In Sheffield, Brecel fought his way back from 5-1 down to win a scrappy affair with Ryan Day in the first round before producing scintillating snooker in a 13-4 demolition job of Ding Junhui in the last 16.
But defeat to Trump means that he will now lose his status as a member of the elite, with his position plummeting down to a lowly 38 on the end-of-season pecking order (or 39 if Zhao Xintong reaches the final).
Such was the level of his poor form, there were even some fears during the first half of this campaign that Brecel might have dropped outside the top 64 and suffered from tour relegation.
He was ultimately able to rectify that perilous situation, but the former UK Championship runner-up will have to work his way back up the ladder if he’s to return to the highest echelons of the game.
End-of-season snooker rankings
| Ranking | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Jackson Page | £192,800 |
| 36 | Ryan Day | £187,300 |
| 37 | Lyu Haotian | £177,500 |
| 38 | Luca Brecel | £173,900 |
| 39 | Ricky Walden | £162,200 |
| 40 | Xu Si | £161,550 |
| 41 | Ben Woollaston | £159,900 |
| 42 | Martin O’Donnell | £147,000 |
Brecel has made no secret of the fact he has several other interests away from the sport, including competing in Ironman triathlons and enjoying the sunshine of Mallorca.
This nonchalant approach earned him a lot of new fans when he powered his way to a maiden world crown in spectacular fashion.
He beat the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby to underline his pedigree on the big stage and also overturned an incredible nine-frame deficit to win his semi-final that year against Si Jiahui.
Brecel was able to rely on his natural talent to bring him the ultimate victory during that special fortnight in Sheffield.
Still only 30 and with immense talent at his disposal, it will be interesting to see if he can find his way back to replicate his glory days.
There were certainly electrifying bursts of his brilliance on the baize in Sheffield this year, but he was unable to sustain it against Trump in the last eight.
Trump, meanwhile, is guaranteed to finish the campaign as the world number one but will be hoping to do so in style.
The 35 year-old’s aspirations of capturing a second world title were boosted with another strong display taking him through to the last four.
Trump will face Mark Williams next after the Welshman edged John Higgins in a Crucible Classic that required all 25 frames and concluded on the final black.
The other semi-final clash will see Ronnie O’Sullivan face Zhao Xintong.
For the full 2025 World Snooker Championship draw, results, and schedule, click here.
Featured photo credit: WST
