The 2021 Championship League was a professional ranking

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament that took place from 18 July to 13 August 2021 at the

Morningside Arena The Leicester Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the Morningside Arena Leicester, is a multi-purpose built sports arena located in Leicester, England. The arena has a seating capacity for 3,000 spectators. The arena's main tenants are the ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England. The event featured 128 players and was played as three rounds of round-robin groups of four, before a best-of-five final. It was the 17th edition of the

Championship League Championship League is a professional snooker tournament, devised by Matchroom Sport. A ranking event version of the tournament began from September 2020, played similarly to its invitational, non-ranking counterpart but with some minor changes ...

and the first ranking tournament of the

2021–22 snooker season The 2021–22 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from July 2021 to May 2022, including the professional World Snooker Tour but also featuring events for female, senior, and Q School players. The season saw a record five pl ...

. It was one of two Championship League events held over the season, with a following invitational event held as the

2022 Championship League (invitational) The 2022 Championship League Invitational (officially the 2022 BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 20 December 2021 to 4 February 2022 at the Morningside Aren ...

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

was the defending champion, having defeated

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

3–1 in the final of the September to October 2020 edition of the tournament. Wilson's title defence ended in Stage Three, where he finished third in his group. David Gilbert won the tournament, defeating

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

3–1 to win his first ranking title. Allen made the highest of the event, a 146.

Format

The 2021 Championship League was hosted from 18 July to 13 August 2021 at the

, England. 128 players took part in the event. The competition began with 32 rounds of group matches with each group consisting of four players. Two groups were played to a finish every day during three blocks, from 18 to 23 July, from 26 to 30 July and from 2 to 6 August, using a two-

table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

setup in the arena. The groups were contested using a round-robin format, with six matches played in each group. All matches in group play were played as best-of-four frames, with three points awarded for a win and one point for a draw. Group positions were determined by points scored, frame difference and then head-to-head results between players who were tied. Places that were still tied were then determined by the highest made in the group. The 32 players that topped the group tables qualified for the group winners' stage, consisting of eight groups of four players. The eight winners from the group winners' stage qualified for the two final groups, with the final taking place later on the same day. The winner took the Championship League title and a place at the 2021 Champion of Champions.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for the tournament is shown below. ;Stage One *Winner: £3,000 *Runner-up: £2,000 *Third place: £1,000 *Fourth place: £0 ;Stage Two *Winner: £4,000 *Runner-up: £3,000 *Third place: £2,000 *Fourth place: £1,000 ;Stage Three *Winner: £6,000 *Runner-up: £4,000 *Third place: £2,000 *Fourth place: £1,000 ;Final *Winner: £20,000 *Runner-up: £10,000 *Tournament total: £328,000

Summary

The first stage was held over 32 groups with 128 participants between 18 July and 6 August.

Peter Lines Peter Lines (born 11 December 1969) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached the semi-finals of one ranking tournament, the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic. He reached his highest ranking, 42nd in the world, in 1999. He is the father ...

won group eight over Mark Williams after winning their match 3-0, despite losing to

Jak Jones Jak Jones (born 29 July 1993) is a Welsh professional snooker player. Jones was born in Cwmbran, Wales. He became a professional in 2010 at the age of 16, by winning the 2010 European Under 19 Snooker Championship in Malta. Career Professio ...

Noppon Saengkham Noppon Saengkham (; born 15 July 1992) is a Thai professional snooker player. Career Early years In April 2009, Saengkham lost in the final of the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 1–5 to Zhang Anda. He went one better at the 2009 IBSF ...

won all three of his matches, including over four-time world champion

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

to win group 9. This was Saengkham's first professional match since being forced to withdraw from the

2021 World Snooker Championship The 2021 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2021 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the ...

due to a positive case of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. World number 115 won group 24, with wins over John Astley and

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional i ...

. Former

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...

winner Maguire finished bottom of the group. Defending champion Wilson lost just two frames as he won group 16. The second stage was held over 8 groups with 32 participants between 9 and 12 August.

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and directe ...

won group A, after he completed a

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...

over world number one

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

won group E over two former world snooker champions

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

and

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

, winning all three of his group matches 3-1.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

, who had won group 32, withdrew from the event, and was replaced by second placed

Mark Joyce Mark Joyce (born 11 August 1983) is an English professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the European Under-19 Cha ...

. Joyce, however, finished bottom of group H, won by David Gilbert. The final two groups, and the final was played on 13 August. Allen won the first of the stage three groups, completing 3-0 victories over Ford and Wilson, as well as a 3-1 win over

Bai Langning Bai Langning (, born 17 April 2002) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Bai is one of eight Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. Career Early career Bai Langning was born in J ...

. During his win over Wilson, Allen made three

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

s of 127, 124 and 146 (the highest of the tournament), where Wilson scored just two points. Despite a loss in the opening match to

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

, Gilbert won the second group after victories over Carter and Ryan Day. The final had Allen win the opening frame with a break of 102, before Gilbert won the remaining three frames with breaks of 59 and 57. This was the first ranking event win of Gilberts 22-year career, having appeared in four previous finals. Gilbert commented after the match that he was "only used to loser's speeches".

Tournament draw

Stage One

Stage One consisted of 32 groups, each containing four players.

Group 1

Group 1 was played on 6 August.

Group 2

Group 2 was played on 21 July.

Group 3

Group 3 was played on 22 July.

Group 4

Group 4 was played on 2 August.

Group 5

Group 5 was played on 6 August.

Group 6

Group 6 was played on 20 July.

Group 7

Group 7 was played on 18 July.

Group 8

Group 8 was played on 18 July.

Group 9

Group 9 was played on 27 July.

Group 10

Group 10 was played on 22 July.

Lu Ning Lu Ning (, born 1 January 1994 in Jilin) is a professional snooker player from the People's Republic of China. Lu is among ten Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. Career Lu's fir ...

was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Ben Fortey.

Group 11

Group 11 was played on 5 August.

Group 12

Group 12 was played on 23 July.

Group 13

Group 13 was played on 26 July.

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Joshua Thomond.

Group 14

Group 14 was played on 26 July.

Group 15

Group 15 was played on 4 August.

Group 16

Group 16 was played on 29 July.

Group 17

Group 17 was played on 4 August.

Group 18

Group 18 was played on 28 July.

Group 19

Group 19 was played on 19 July.

Alfie Burden Alfred Burden (born 14 December 1976) is an English professional snooker player from London. Career Burden originally had his eyes set on making a career as a professional footballer, but a badly broken leg curtailed this ambition. He spent a c ...

was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by

Sydney Wilson Sydney Wilson (born 6 April 1990 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Wilson began playing snooker at the age of three with his father teaching him the basics of the game. He later took lessons f ...

Group 20

Group 20 was played on 29 July.

Group 21

Group 21 was played on 30 July.

Group 22

Group 22 was played on 30 July.

Group 23

Group 23 was played on 19 July.

Group 24

Group 24 was played on 2 August.

Group 25

Group 25 was played on 3 August.

Group 26

Group 26 was played on 27 July.

Group 27

Group 27 was played on 3 August.

Group 28

Group 28 was played on 21 July.

Group 29

Group 29 was played on 28 July.

Group 30

Group 30 was played on 5 August.

Group 31

Group 31 was played on 23 July.

Group 32

Group 32 was played on 20 July.

Ng On-yee Ng On-yee (; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one position in the World Women's Sno ...

was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by Saqib Nasir.

Stage Two

Stage Two consisted of eight groups, each containing four players.

Group A

Group A was played on 12 August.

Group B

Group B was played on 12 August.

Group C

Group C was played on 11 August.

Group D

Group D was played on 11 August.

Group E

Group E was played on 10 August.

Group F

Group F was played on 10 August.

Group G

Group G was played on 9 August.

Group H

Group H was played on 9 August.

was originally due to take part in this group, but withdrew and was replaced by

Stage Three

Stage Three consisted of two groups, each containing four players.

Group 1

Group 1 was played on 13 August.

Group 2

Group 2 was played on 13 August.

Final

Century breaks

There was a total of 74 century breaks made during the tournament. The highest break was made by

, who made a 146 in his stage three match against Kyren Wilson. * 146, 137, 127, 124, 124, 123, 115, 110, 103, 102

* 143, 139, 131, 100 David Gilbert * 140, 100 Jimmy Robertson * 137, 125

Stuart Carrington Stuart Carrington (born 14 May 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Steven Hallworth and Ian Glover in Grimsby. In May 2011, Carrington qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of fou ...

* 136, 134 Ryan Day * 134, 116

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

* 133

Craig Steadman Craig Steadman (born 14 July 1982) is an English professional snooker player. Career Early career Steadman began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached the quarte ...

* 132

Mitchell Mann Mitchell Mann (born 26 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player. Career Junior Mann first played snooker aged 9, after being forced to quit football after a diagnosis of Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome, a rare disease which r ...

* 130, 129, 114, 104

Yan Bingtao Yan Bingtao (, born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the youngest player to win the Amateur World Snooker Championship after defeating Muhammad Sajjad 8–7. Having qualified to compete on the main tour for t ...

* 130, 111

Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple ...

* 130

Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer known for his work on video game developer Bungie's series, such as '' Myth'', ''Oni'', ''Halo'', and ''Destiny''. O'Donnell collaborated with his musical colleague Michael Salvatori ...

* 128

* 127, 125

Chang Bingyu Chang Bingyu (; born 8 August 2002) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Chang is one of ten Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. In January 2023, the WPBSA charged him with fi ...

* 127

Andy Hicks Andrew Hicks (born 10 August 1973) is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Cream of Devon", Hicks was a semi-finalist at both the World Snooker Championship and UK Championship in 1995, and the same stage at four other ranking ...

* 125, 115, 100

* 125, 112, 105, 104, 101

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

* 124

* 122

Barry Pinches Barry Pinches (born 13 July 1970 in Catton, Norwich) is an English professional snooker player, recognisable for his bright and flamboyant waistcoats, which usually feature the yellow and green colours of Norwich City F.C. He is a former top 3 ...

* 119 Anthony Hamilton * 119

Soheil Vahedi Soheil Vahedi ( fa, سهیل واحدی, born March 15, 1989) is an Iranian former professional snooker player. Career In 2009 Vahedi entered the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championships in his home country in Kish, Iran in which he reached ...

* 118

* 117, 113

* 117 Gary Wilson * 116 Joe O'Connor * 115

Louis Heathcote Louis Heathcote (born 3 July 1997) is an English people, English professional snooker player. Career In May 2019, Heathcote came through Q School 2019 - Event 2, Q-School - Event 2 by winning six matches to earn a two-year card on the World Snoo ...

* 114, 108

* 113, 102

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

* 112, 104 Michael White * 111, 103

Yuan Sijun Yuan Sijun (Chinese: 袁思俊; born 29 May 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Yuan started to play snooker at the age of 10 and played as a wildcard in many professional tournaments between ages of 13 and 16. Yuan first drew ...

* 111, 100

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker playe ...

* 111

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998. Milkins ...

* 107

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championsh ...

* 106

* 103, 100

* 102 Jamie Jones * 102

* 100

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000� ...

* 100 Dean Young

References

External links

Matchroom Sport – Championship League Snooker

World Snooker Tour – Calendar 2021/2022
{{DEFAULTSORT:Championship League 2021 (2) 2021 in snooker 2021 in English sport July 2021 sports events in the United Kingdom August 2021 sports events in the United Kingdom 2021 Championship League