The 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship will take place this week with the likes of Igor Figueiredo and Jimmy White in the draw.
The prestigious event on the World Seniors Snooker Tour will return to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the seventh year in a row from May 7th to 11th.
There will be 16 players in the field this year, with Brazil’s Figueiredo representing the top seed as the reigning champion and record four-time winner White on the opposite side of the draw.
Who is in the 2025 World Seniors Championship draw?
Joining Figeuredo and White will be a high-quality group of players in what is a very competitive lineup for an edition of the World Seniors Snooker Championship.
Figueiredo will launch his defence against Wayne Townsend, with White first in action against Alfie Burden in a repeat of the 2023 final.
It was recently announced that the Whirlwind would receive a fresh two-year invitational card to compete on the professional World Snooker Tour.
But the seniors circuit is where he has enjoyed the most success over the last decade or so, capturing a record eight titles and appearing in several other title-deciding encounters.
Elsewhere, two-time former world seniors runner-up Ken Doherty will face South African qualifier Charl Jonck with 2018 champion Aaron Canavan up against Andrew Norman.
Joining the World Seniors Tour in 2025 will be Joe Perry and Dominic Dale, meanwhile.
Both Perry and Dale confirmed their respective retirements from professional snooker in April after more than three decades on the main tour.
But neither has plans to give up the game entirely, and they will both represent serious threats to land the silverware in Sheffield.
Perry’s first outing of the competition will be against Fabio Anderson Luersen with Dale playing Craig Steadman, and the pair of former ranking event winners could clash as early as the quarter-finals.
One of the ties of the opening round sees Tony Drago – a semi-finalist in 2024 – meet Gerard Greene.
Tony Knowles is also back for another crack with the former world number two in action against Australian Hassan Kerde in the last 16.
2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship Draw
Round of 16 (bo7)
Igor Figueiredo 2-4 Wayne Townsend
Aaron Canavan 4-1 Andrew Norman
Dominic Dale 4-2 Craig Steadman
Fabio Anderson Luersen 2-4 Joe Perry
Jimmy White 1-4 Alfie Burden
Tony Drago 4-3 Gerard Greene
Hassan Kerde 4-0 Tony Knowles
Charl Jonck 4-2 Ken Doherty
Quarter-Finals (bo7)
Wayne Townsend 2-4 Aaron Canavan
Dominic Dale 4-1 Joe Perry
Alfie Burden 4-3 Tony Drago
Hassan Kerde 4-2 Charl Jonck
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Aaron Canavan 6-5 Dominic Dale
Alfie Burden 6-2 Hassan Kerde
Final (bo15)
Aaron Canavan 4-8 Alfie Burden
Who are the betting favourites?
Ken Doherty, a finalist last year and also the runner-up in 2020 when he blew a 4-0 lead in the final, is considered the outright betting favourite.
The Irishman has odds of 11/4 to go all the way to glory in the World Seniors Snooker Championship draw for the first time.
Joe Perry is next at 7/2 with Igor Figueiredo considered a 5/1 chance of securing successive successes in Sheffield.
The bookies have Jimmy White at only 6/1 in the outright betting market with askgamblers.com providing a list of popular sportbooks that have sign-up offers and free bets to avail of.
What is the format?
It was announced that there will be an increase to the format this year, with longer matches adding to the drama that is bound to unfold.
The first two rounds will now be played over seven frames with 11 frames subsequently required for each semi-final.
The final on May 11th will then take place over 15 frames, marking a considerable increase from the previous best-of-nine finales.
How to watch the tournament?
Viewers in the United Kingdom and in some parts of Ireland will be able to watch the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship live on Channel 5.
Tickets are still available for some sessions if you want to see the action in Sheffield up close and personal.
It was recently announced that the Crucible Theatre will continue to host the World Seniors Snooker Championship until at least 2027.
What happened last year?
In 2024, an emotional Igor Figueiredo won one of the biggest titles of his career with a 5-2 victory over Ken Doherty in the final.
The affable Brazilian, who enjoyed several stints as a professional player on the World Snooker Tour, beat Tessa Davidson in round one before conjuring a standout victory over reigning champion Jimmy White in the quarter-finals.
A 4-1 success over Tony Drago in the penultimate round helped him through to the final showdown, where he duly overcame favourite Doherty.
The glory earned Figueiredo a £20,000 payday and also saw him receive a lucrative invitation to the prestigious Champion of Champions in Bolton.
Previous Finals
1991: Cliff Wilson 5-4 Eddie Charlton
2010: Jimmy White 4-1 Steve Davis
2011: Darren Morgan 2-1 Steve Davis
2012: Nigel Bond 2-0 Tony Chappel
2013: Steve Davis 2-1 Nigel Bond
2015: Mark Williams 2-1 Fergal O’Brien
2016: Mark Davis 2-1 Darren Morgan
2017: Peter Lines 4-0 John Parrott
2018: Aaron Canavan 4-3 Patrick Wallace
2019: Jimmy White 5-3 Darren Morgan
2020: Jimmy White 5-4 Ken Doherty
2021: David Lilley 5-3 Jimmy White
2022: Lee Walker 5-4 Jimmy White
2023: Jimmy White 5-3 Alfie Burden
2024: Igor Figueiredo 5-2 Ken Doherty
Featured photo credit: WSS / Andy Chubb
Don’t agree with Doherty as favourite. Dominic Dale was still on the tour through merit when retiring. Joe Perry has also been a superior player in recent years. While Jimmy White is the most successful player ever on the senior’s tour.
The Darling of Dublin is the only world champion in this year’s field. The households names are diminishing with Joe Johnson, Cliff Thorburn, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott and Dennis Taylor all recent world champions that have stepped away from senior’s competition in recent times.
White v Burden looks the standout tie.
The afternoon sessions will be on 5 and the evening sessions broadcast on 5 Action. There’s strong rumours 5 could start airing events on the main tour from next year. An article came out over the weekend saying ITV’s time covering snooker and darts was coming to end this year.
Agree. The odds don’t make sense for this one.