The Champion of Champions is a (relatively) recent non-ranking addition to the snooker calendar that involves the event winners of the prior year battling it out to determine who is the true champion. Sixteen players compete in a series of short-format matches, culminating in a best-of-19 final contest where the winner gets a six-figure pay out worthy of champion status.
Despite my stating the tournament is ‘relatively recent’, earlier editions of the Champion of Champions did exist in 1978 and 1980. These were won by Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy however, the events didn’t perform well commercially and thus, were discontinued for the foreseeable future.
Fast forward a few decades and the Champion of Champions was recommissioned in 2013 where audience response was far better received, and fans were treated to a match worthy of a final in every contest. Similar to the Masters and the Coral Cup series, the Champion of Champions provided matches that a viewer would normally have to wait multiple rounds of your typical flat-draw event to witness.
The event sees the sixteen players separated into 4x4 ‘groups’ where winners proceed further into the tournament. I put groups in quotations because it isn’t like the Championship League where all players have a chance to play each other; rather two matches are played and the winner of each match progress.
Since its rebirth in 2013, Ronnie O’Sullivan has seen the most success at the Champion of Champions. He won the first two iterations of the tournament in 2013-2014 and has contested the finals in 2016-17, following this with a third title in 2018. O’Sullivan chose not to participate in 2015, leading to Neil Robertson triumphing over Mark Allen; a defeat that Allen was able to remedy in last year’s final. John Higgins and Shaun Murphy are also members of the CoC alumni with their victories over O’Sullivan in 2016 and 2017.
The Champion of Champions was typically held in the Ricoh Arena in Coventry but has since seen venue changes to adapt to the changing times. Most events last season along with the CoC were held in Milton Keynes and this year will see the contest held in Bolton. Whether the tournament will ever return to Coventry is yet to be known.
The Champion of Champions has provided some great contests such as Robertson’s and Trump’s final in 2019 (click here to read about that), O’Sullivan’s and White’s first round match in 2019 (click here to read about that) as well as Reanne Evans’s contest against Shaun Murphy in 2019. Actually, 2019 seemed like the year to watch now that I’m thinking about it. Although, the final between O’Sullivan and Wilson in 2018 also provided a dramatic contest.
But tell me what you think! What do you think of the Champion of Champions? Is it an event you look forward to each year? Are there things that you would change about it? It’s a tournament broadcasted by the ITV team; are you a fan of the coverage? Let me know in the comments!
Like this Short? Click here to read: How the Champion of Champions Participants are Decided
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