The 2026 invitational version of Championship League Snooker will conclude this week with seven players vying for success in Leicester.
The ranking event edition of CLS already took place at the start of the 2025/26 campaign with Stephen Maguire emerging as its winner.
The Scot isn’t in the final lineup at the Mattioli Arena this time, with seven other hopefuls gunning for glory in the behind-closed-doors competition.
What is Championship League Snooker?
There are two versions of this event that are promoted every year by Matchroom Multi Sport, the aforementioned ranking edition and the current invitational.
The latter is the oldest of the two having launched all the way back in 2008, and it has barely changed in format since then.
Essentially, there are seven qualifying groups featuring seven players in each, with each champion advancing to the concluding Winners’ Group.
At the Winners’ Group, the outlook is the same with the seven contenders first taking each other on in a simple round-robin format.
The top four after the initial league phase will move forward to the play-offs, where the overall champion of the competition will ultimately be crowned following two knockout rounds.
Championship League Snooker is known for its short games with every match including the final conducted over the best-of-five frames.
When is the Championship League Snooker Winners’ Group?
With the seven qualifying groups completed in January, all that’s left is the Winners’ Group which will take place on Tuesday, February 10th and Wednesday, February 11th in Leicester.
Who is the 2026 Winners’ Group?
Mark Selby is the two-time defending champion, the Leicester man having enjoyed success in his hometown in both 2024 and 2025.
In fact, Selby is the only former champion of either version of Championship League Snooker to be still involved this year.
The 42 year-old won Group 5, joining Tom Ford, Elliot Slessor, Si Jiahui, and Matthew Selt who had respectively triumphed in the first four groups.
Group 6 was won by Wu Yize, while the seventh and final spot went to Zhang Anda who managed to emerge safely from Group 7.
Among them, world number six Selby is the favourite with outright betting odds of about 2/1 ahead of Wu at 3/1, Si at 6/1, and Zhang at 7/1.
Selt, Slessor, and Ford are considered the outsiders, but anything can happen in such a short format and the full list of odds to bet on snooker at VivatBet are available at their extensive sportsbook.
For Si and Slessor, the two-day finale provides the pair with an opportunity to win silverware as professionals on the main tour for the first time.
What is the prize money?
Championship League Snooker offers the one of the smallest prize pots on the calendar, but players still like to participate as it provides solid match practice ahead of more important events.
There are various cash bonuses for winning frames, compiling the highest break, or for reaching the knockout rounds and eventually becoming the champion.
There is also the potential reward of receiving an invitation to the prestigious Champion of Champions invitational, although that is now not as guaranteed as in previous years.
Championship League Snooker
Winners’ Group prize money
Winner: £10,000
Runner-up: £5,000
Semi-final: £3,000
Frame-win (league stage): £200
Frame-win (play-offs): £300
Highest break: £1,000
How to watch Championship League Snooker
According to the official Championship League Snooker website, fans in the UK and Ireland will be able to watch action from Table 1 on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel and action from Table 2 on the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
Those options will also be available to viewers from territories without an official broadcaster.
Below is a list of the global broadcasting partners for the tournament:
- Eurasian Broadcasting – Ukraine & CIS territories
- Fox Sports – Australia
- Nova – Czechia & Slovakia
- Rigour – China
- PCCW – Hong Kong
- Viaplay – Iceland & Netherlands
- Reddentes – Thailand
- Sky NZ – New Zealand (February 10–11)
- TV3 – Baltics
- Viasat – Scandinavia
Featured photo credit: WST
