It’s time to turn our attention away from the usual business of ranking event snooker for one week and focus on one of the sport’s elite invitational tournaments.
The Champion of Champions – held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry – is an additional earning opportunity for the players who have won titles over the past 12 months which by definition always guarantees us a star-studded line-up.
This year’s 16-man field features 12 of the world’s top 16 ranked players and sees four first-time ranking event winners take their place among the sport’s stellar names.
The event breaks the players into four groups of four in which each group takes on its own knockout format to decide who will emerge through to the overall semi-finals.
This is the fifth year it has been held and so far it has been Ronnie O’Sullivan who has been the most successful competitor. He has played in three of the previous four editions, taking home the trophy twice in 2013 and 2014 before finishing runner-up last year to John Higgins.
Last year’s finalists O’Sullivan and Higgins have been drawn in the same group this year alongside Australia’s Neil Robertson and Scotland’s Anthony McGill in the group being dubbed the ‘group of death’.
The other most exciting match-up sees the two most recent event winners Mark Selby and Judd Trump pitted together as well as Luca Brecel and Liang Wenbo.
This event promises to be a cracker as its inclusion of all the big names almost guarantees a whole host of brilliant matches.
Its single-table format throughout creates a special atmosphere worthy of any final and is popular among the players as conditions are superb and it helps them to produce their best form.
Sit back and enjoy the show.
Group 1
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Neil Robertson
John Higgins v Anthony McGill
Group 2
Barry Hawkins v Ryan Day
Ding Junhui v Anthony Hamilton
Group 3
Shaun Murphy v Mark King
Marco Fu v Michael White
Group 4
Judd Trump v Luca Brecel
Mark Selby v Liang Wenbo
