Championship League

Overview

The tournament was initially set up as an invitational qualifier to the Premier League Snooker series, where there are no audience and matches are played behind closed doors, matches are allocated in groups and spread over the course of a month. Despite the discontinuation of the Premier League in 2012, it remained as a standalone event and has since kept the unique format. The tournament was originally held at the Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, Essex until 2016 and has since been held in Coventry, Barnsley, Milton Keynes and currently in Leicester.

In June 2020 there was a oneoff, roundrobin, nonranking edition of the tournament.

A ranking version of the tournament began in the 2020–21 season and is held alongside the non-ranking version. In contrast to the invitational event, which is usually held during the second half of the snooker season, it is held as the first event of the season since 2021 and has the smallest prize fund of all ranking events.

Format

Invitational version

In the invitational, nonranking version, 25 players take part, although players often withdraw and are replaced by others. Players earn money for every won and there are also prizes for being a semifinalist, runnerup 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 bestoffour, meaning that the matches could end in a draw as all the four frames were played, and the semifinals and final were bestoffive.

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 playoff, the winner of which qualifies for the winners' group. The bottom two players of each group are eliminated and the remaining four move to the next group, where they are joined by three more players until the seventh group. In each group, the players are ranked by the number of matches won, then by most frames won, and then by least frames lost. If two players are tied by these criteria, the player who won the match between them is ranked higher in the table. The winners play in the final group with the champion taking a place in the following season's Champion of Champions (the same year's Premier League before 2013).

Ranking version

In the ranking version, 128 players take part in 32 rounds of group matches with each group consisting of four players. All matches are the bestoffour with three points awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The 32 players that top the group tables qualify for the second stage, consisting of eight groups of four players, and the eight winners from the second stage qualify for the two final groups. In each group, the players are ranked by points scored, frame difference and then headtohead results between players who are tied. Places that are still tied are then determined by the highest made in the group. If the highest break is also tied, the next highest break made by the players is used. The winners of the two final groups play a bestoffive final. The champion takes a place in the same season's Champion of Champions.

Maximum breaks

There have been 24 maximum breaks in the history of the tournament. Shaun Murphy made the first in 2014. Barry Hawkins and David Gilbert both made maximums in 2015, Gilbert made the 147th maximum in 2019, and then made another in 2025. Fergal O'Brien made one in 2016, and Mark Davis made two in 2017. Martin Gould and Luca Brecel both made maximums in 2018, and Ryan Day made one in 2020. John Higgins made maximums in both 2020 and 2024. Stuart Bingham made one in 2021 as did Kyren Wilson and Joe O'Connor in 2024. Along with Gilbert, Jak Jones and Mark Selby both made maximums in 2025. Fan Zhengyi also made a 147 in 2025. Chris Wakelin, Matthew Selt, Xiao Guodong, Wu Yize, and Zhao Xintong all made maximums in 2026.

There were three maximum breaks achieved during the 2024 tournament, by Wilson in Group 3, by Higgins in Group 5, and by O'Connor in Group 7. There were also three made in the 2025 tournament, by Jones in Group 2, by Gilbert in Group 7, and by Selby in the Winners' Group. Three maximums in an event had only been achieved twice previously, the first being at the 2012 UK Championship, and the second at the 2017 German Masters. There were five maximum breaks made during the 2026 tournament, by Wakelin in Group 1, Selt in Group 4, Xiao, Wu, and Zhao in Group 6.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for both the invitational and ranking versions of the Championship League is shown below.

Invitational version

;Groups 1–7

• Winner: £3,000
• Runner-up: £2,000
• Semi-final: £1,000
• Frame-win (league stage): £100
• Frame-win (play-offs): £300
• Highest break (from 2011 to present): £500 ;Winners' Group
• Winner: £10,000
• Runner-up: £5,000
• Semi-final: £3,000
• Frame-win (league stage): £200 (£300 in 2011 and 2012)
• Frame-win (play-offs): £300
• Highest break (from 2011 to present): £1,000
• Maximum possible tournament total (since 2013): £205,000 (if all match results are 32) 100x7x21x5 + 300x7x3x5 + 500x7 + 1000x7x2 + 2000x7 + 3000x7

• 200x21x5 + 300x3x5 + 1000 + 3000x2 + 5000 + 10000 = 205000 --

• Minimum possible tournament total (since 2013): £152,800 (if all match results are 30) 100x7x21x3 + 300x7x3x3 + 500x7 + 1000x7x2 + 2000x7 + 3000x7

• 200x21x3 + 300x3x3 + 1000 + 3000x2 + 5000 + 10000 = 152800 --

Ranking version

;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 Note: The champion receives a total of £33,000 (£3,000 + £4,000 + £6,000 + £20,000).

Winners

Notes

References

References

1. Turner, Chris. "Matchroom Championship League". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive.
2. "147 Breaks: Full list". [[World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
3. (9 January 2014). "Murphy 147 / Robertson Centuries Record". [[World Snooker Tour]].
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5. (11 February 2015). "Xiao wins CLS7 / Gilbert makes 147". [[World Snooker Tour]].
6. (22 January 2019). "Gilbert makes historic 147th maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
7. (25 January 2025). "Gilbert makes third maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
8. (25 February 2016). "O'Brien joins 147 club". [[World Snooker Tour]].
9. (11 January 2017). "Davis makes first 147 to win CLS group three". [[World Snooker Tour]].
10. (2 March 2017). "Mark Davis makes 147 in Coventry". [[World Snooker Tour]].
11. (26 January 2018). "Gould Makes Maiden 147". [[World Snooker Tour]].
12. (26 March 2018). "Brecel joins 147 club". [[World Snooker Tour]].
13. (13 September 2020). "Day starts season with 147". [[World Snooker Tour]].
14. (30 October 2020). "Higgins makes 11th career maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
15. (10 February 2024). "Higgins makes 13th maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
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17. (6 February 2024). "Wilson makes fifth 147". [[World Snooker Tour]].
18. (29 February 2024). "Joe O'Connor makes snooker's 200th 147". [[World Snooker Tour]].
19. (7 January 2025). "Jones joins 147 club, but Si Wins group". [[World Snooker Tour]].
20. (5 February 2025). "Selby retains League title and makes maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
21. (17 July 2025). "Fan-tastic 147".
22. Day, Michael. (2 January 2026). "Chris Wakelin produces record-extending 147 maximum break on first snooker day of the new year".
23. (9 January 2026). "Selt makes first 147".
24. (21 January 2026). "Wu and Xiao make Championship League maximums".
25. (22 January 2026). "Wu wins group six as Zhao fires in maximum".
26. "Handy Andy makes UK maximum". [[World Snooker Tour]].
27. (22 November 2012). "UK Championship – Auch Lisowski gelingt ein maximum-break".
28. (5 December 2012). "John Higgins racks up maximum break at UK Championship". [[RTÉ Sport]].
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32. "Championship League Snooker (Ranking)". championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk.
33. "Championship League – Winners Group (2008)".
34. "Championship League – Winners Group (2009)".
35. "Championship League – Winners Group (2010)".
36. "Championship League – Winners Group (2011)".
37. "Championship League – Winners Group (2012)".
38. "Championship League – Winners Group (2013)".
39. "Championship League – Winners Group (2014)".
40. "Championship League – Winners Group (2015)".
41. "Championship League – Winners Group (2016)".
42. "Championship League – Winners Group (2017)".
43. "Championship League – Winners Group (2018)".
44. "Championship League – Winners Group (2019)".
45. "Championship League – Winners Group (2020)".
46. "Championship League – Round-Robin (2020)".
47. "Championship League – Winners Group (2021)".
48. "Championship League – Winners Group (2022)".
49. "Championship League – Winners Group (2023)".
50. "Championship League – Winners Group (2024)".
51. "Championship League – Winners Group (2025)".
52. "2020 Championship League".
53. "2021 Championship League".
54. "2022 Championship League".
55. "2023 Championship League".
56. "2024 Championship League".
57. "2025 Championship League".