The 2020–21 snooker season was a professional

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

season with tournaments played from 13 September 2020 to 9 May 2021. As a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the season was played almost entirely without a live audience with only the 2021 World Snooker Championship being played in front of a crowd. All snooker tournaments in the season were played in the United Kingdom, due to travel and quarantine restrictions preventing the tour and players from utilising usual venues.

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and the current List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He is currently in ...

won five ranking events during the season, whilst

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...

won the 2021 World Snooker Championship, to win his fourth world championship. Trump retained the world number one spot throughout the season, also reaching the final of the 2020 UK Championship, losing to

Neil Robertson Neil Alexander Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and former List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He ...

. Teenager

Yan Bingtao Yan Bingtao (; born 16 February 2000) is a Chinese former professional snooker player who is currently serving a five-year ban from professional competition after committing a range of match-fixing offences. He rose to prominence by winning th ...

won the other Triple Crown event, the 2021 Masters. This was the first season in a

decade A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement ...

that Ronnie O'Sullivan failed to win a triple crown event; O'Sullivan was defeated in all 5 ranking finals he reached this season, marking the first season since 2016–17 that he had not captured a ranking title.

Overview

With the exception of two events played at the

Celtic Manor Resort Celtic Manor Resort is a golf, spa and leisure hotel and resort in the city of Newport, South East Wales. Owned by Sir Terry Matthews, the resort is located on the south-facing side of Christchurch Hill in eastern Newport, near Junction 24 o ...

in Newport, Wales (the Welsh Open and the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

) and the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre, or simply The Crucible, is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1971. Its name refers to crucible steel, which was developed in Sheffield in 1740 and drove the industrialisation of the city. ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

; all snooker tournaments were played at the

Marshall Arena The Marshall Arena (formerly known as Arena MK, also Milton Keynes Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, located beside Stadium MK. The multi-use event space is positioned over three floors and antic ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

. The venue was used to cooperate with restrictions caused by the

COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom was a series of stay-at-home orders introduced by the British government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, British and devolved governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom ...

. Towards the end of October, World Snooker Tour had announced that the

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 in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...

would have the first round played at the same arena, but all televised stages would then be played at the York Barbican: on 4 November, days after the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

announced a lockdown for all of England, this was then revised to include the entire tournament. Despite space being allocated for back-to-back events in China during March, WST later confirmed on 3 December 2020 that all China-based tournaments were cancelled, due to continuing travel restrictions, making it the first season in more than a decade where no tournaments would be staged in Asia. In its place, a new WST Pro Series was added, taking place between January and March 2021. On 4 January 2021, the week prior to the event, WST announced that the Masters would be moved to the Marshall Arena, as a result of logistical challenges associated with

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...

having no on-site facilities and lengthy travel requirements from a hotel, preventing a secure 'bubble' from being formed to host the event. On 26 January 2021, World Snooker Tour announced that the Welsh Open would become the first event that season to be played outside the Marshall Arena, at the

in Newport. This was made possible due to a Covid-bubble being able to be created with similar on-site accommodation facilities, meaning players were able to stay within the bubble while playing in the event. Later in the season, World Snooker confirmed that the 2021 Tour Championship event would be played at Celtic Manor as the final event of the season prior to the

at the

. On 13 March 2021, World Snooker announced that the World Snooker Championship would welcome a limited number of fans, as part of an Events Research Programme run by the government. The programme intends to test a variety of settings to generate evidence on how fans may be safely welcomed into sporting events in future, with the Crucible Theatre providing evidence of a "theatre setting". On 20 April 2021, towards the start of the World Championship, it was announced that Barry Hearn would step down as Chairman of the World Snooker Tour and as President of Matchroom Sport. Steve Dawson will replace Hearn as the Chairman of the World Snooker Tour after the conclusion of the season, although Hearn will remain in an advisory position on tour.

Players

The

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...

in the 2020–21 season consists of a field of 128 professional players. The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2020 World Championship, and the 35 players earning a two-year card the previous year automatically qualify for the season. Next, four places are allocated to the top four on the One Year Ranking List who have not already qualified for the Main Tour. Another two players came from the Challenge Tour, two players came from the CBSA China Tour, and a further 12 places were available through the Q School, four from each of the three events. Two-year tour cards were also awarded to any player outside the top 64, who qualified for the main stage of the 2020 World Snooker Championship at the

Crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

. The rest of the places on to the tour came from amateur events.

New professional players

All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons. ;International champions EBSA European Championship winner: Andrew Pagett (''deferred'') #: Aaron Hill # WSF Open winner:

Ashley Hugill Ashley Hugill (born 28 September 1994 in York, Yorkshire) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Hugill came through the 2017 Q School by winning six matches to earn a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour for the 2017– ...

# WSF Open runner-up: Iulian Boiko #WSF Junior Open winner: Gao Yang #WSF Junior Open runner-up: Sean Maddocks One Year Ranking List ;CBSA China Tour ;Challenge Tour ;World Championship Wildcards ;Q School ;Event 1 ;Event 2 ;Event 3 ;Invitational Tour Card

Calendar

The following tables outline the dates and results for all the events of the

and the World Seniors Tour.

World Snooker Tour

World Seniors Tour

World ranking points

The 2020–21 snooker season featured the following points distribution for

ranking events:

Notes

References

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

*Season 2020 *Season 2021