Championship League

This article is about the snooker tournament. For the darts tournament, see Championship League Darts.
Not to be confused with Champions League.
Championship League
Tournament information
Venue Crondon Park Golf Club
Location Stock
Country England
Established 2008
Organisation(s) Matchroom Sport
Format Non-ranking event
Total prize fund £200,000[1]
Current champion(s) England Judd Trump

Championship League is a non-ranking snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. All tournaments have been held at the Crondon Park Golf Club since its debut in 2008.[2] Judd Trump is the reigning champion.

History and format

The event was introduced in 2008 by Barry Hearn to provide additional competition and a qualifier to the Premier League Snooker. 25 professionals take part, there is no audience and every match is broadcast via internet only.[2] Players earn money for every frame won and there are also prizes for being a semi-finalist, runner-up and winner of each group, with more money involved in the winners group.

In the first two years all matches in the group stages were the best of four, meaning that the matches could ended in a draw as all the four frames were played, and the semi-finals and final was best of five. From 2010 all matches are best of five.

The competition runs over eight groups, each consisting of seven players. From the league stage of the first seven groups the top four qualify for a play-off, the winner of which qualifies for the winners group. The bottom two players of each league are eliminated and the remaining four moves to the next group, where they are joined by three more players until the seventh group. The winners play in the final group with the overall winner taking a place in that year's Premier League Snooker until 2012,[2] and in that year's Champion of Champions from 2013.

There have been three maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. Shaun Murphy compiled the first at the 2014 event against Mark Davis in their league stage match of group two.[3][4] Barry Hawkins achieved the second one-year later at the 2015 event against Stephen Maguire in their league stage match of group one.[5] David Gilbert achieved the third one at the 2015 event against Xiao Guodong in their league stage match of group seven.[6]

Winners

[2]

Year Winner Runner-up Final score Season
2008 England Joe Perry England Mark Selby 3–1 2007/08
2009 England Judd Trump England Mark Selby 3–2 2008/09
2010 Hong Kong Marco Fu Northern Ireland Mark Allen 3–2 2009/10
2011 Wales Matthew Stevens England Shaun Murphy 3–1 2010/11
2012[7] China Ding Junhui England Judd Trump 3–1 2011/12
2013[8] England Martin Gould England Ali Carter 3–2 2012/13
2014[9] England Judd Trump England Martin Gould 3–1 2013/14
2015[10] England Stuart Bingham England Mark Davis 3–2 2014/15
2016[11] England Judd Trump England Ronnie O'Sullivan 3–2 2015/16

References

  1. ↑ "Prize Fund - Championship League Snooker 2015". championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk. Matchroom Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Turner, Chris. "Matchroom Championship League". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Murphy produces maximum magic at Championship League". ESPN. 8 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Perry claims Group 2 spot in just 26 minutes". premierleaguesnooker.com. Matchroom Sport. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Hawkins Makes 147 At CLS". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Xiao Wins CLS7 / Gilbert Makes 147". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Championship League - Winners Group (2012)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "Championship League – Winners Group (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "Championship League - Winners' Group (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "Championship League - Winners' Group (2015)". championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "Championship League - Winners' Group (2016)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
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