Championship League Snooker (CLS) is a professional snooker tournament devised by Matchroom Sport, held in both ranking and non-ranking (known as Championship League Invitational) formats throughout the snooker season. The tournament began in 2008 as an invitational event, with the ranking tournament beginning in 2020. It is one of the only main tour events that is not directly sanctioned by the World Snooker Tour, along with the Champion of Champions.
Mark Selby is the reigning champion of the invitational event, and Jak Jones is the reigning champion of the ranking event.
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 25 maximum breaks in the history of the tournament.
Season Event Group Date Player 1 2013–14 2014 2 2 2014–15 2015 (1st) 1 3 2014–15 2015 (2nd) 7 4 2015–16 2016 6 5 2016–17 2017 (1st) 3 6 2016–17 2017 (2nd) Winners 7 2017–18 2018 (1st) 6 8 2017–18 2018 (2nd) 7 9 2018–19 2019 5 10 2020–21 2020 (1st) Stage 1, Group 2 11 2020–21 2020 (2nd) Stage 3, Group 2 12 2020–21 2021 1 13 2023–24 2024 (1st) 3 14 2023–24 2024 (2nd) 5 15 2023–24 2024 (3rd) 7 16 2024–25 2025 (1st) 2 17 2024–25 2025 (2nd) 7 18 2024–25 2025 (3rd) Winners 19 2025–26 2025 Stage 1, Group 29 20 2025–26 2026 (1st) 1 21 2025–26 2026 (2nd) 4 22 2025–26 2026 (3rd) 6 23 2025–26 2026 (4th) 6 24 2025–26 2026 (5th) 6 25 2026–27 2026 Stage 1, 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) Minimum possible tournament total (since 2013): £152,800 (if all match results are 30)
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
Year Winner Runner-up Season Venue (England) Invitational tournaments (non-ranking, 2008–present) 2008 31 2007/08 Crondon Park Golf Club in Stock, Essex 2009 32 2008/09 2010 32 2009/10 2011 31 2010/11 2012 31 2011/12 2013 32 2012/13 2014 31 2013/14 2015 32 2014/15 2016 32 2015/16 2017 30 2016/17 Ricoh Arena in Coventry 2018 32 2017/18 2019 31 2018/19 Ricoh Arena in Coventry and Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley 2020 (March) 30 2019/20 Leicester Arena in Leicester 2020 (June) 2019/20 Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes 2021 32 2020/21 Ballroom, Stadium MK in Milton Keynes 2022 32 2021/22 Leicester Arena in Leicester 2023 31 2022/23 2024 31 2023/24 2025 30 2024/252026 31 2025/26 Ranking tournaments (2020–present) 2020 31 2020/21 Ballroom, Stadium MK in Milton Keynes 2021 31 2021/22 Leicester Arena in Leicester 2022 31 2022/23 2023 30 2023/24 2024 31 2024/25 2025 31 2025/262026 32 2026/27
Notes
References
External links