The 2021–22 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from July 2021 to May 2022, including the professional World Snooker Tour but also featuring events for female, senior, and Q School players. The season saw a record five players claim their first professional ranking titles: David Gilbert, Zhao Xintong, Hossein Vafaei, Fan Zhengyi, and Robert Milkins. Nutcharut Wongharuthai won her first World Women's Snooker Championship, becoming the only player besides Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee to win the women's world title in 19 years. Ronnie O'Sullivan won the World Snooker Championship, equalling Stephen Hendry's modern era record of seven world titles and becoming the oldest world champion in snooker history at the age of 46 years and 148 days. Lee Walker won his first World Seniors Championship.
Neil Robertson, who won four tournaments during the season, was named Player of the Year at the World Snooker Tour Awards. O'Sullivan was named the Snooker Journalists' Player of the Year, while Zhao was the Fans' Player of the Year. O'Sullivan won Performance of the Year for capturing his seventh world title, while Robertson won Magic Moment of the Year for making a maximum break at the Crucible. Evans and Allison Fisher were entered into the Snooker Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the growth of snooker.
Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2021–22 season consists of a field of 122 professional players. The top 64 players from the prize money rankings after the 2021 World Championship, and 27 of the players who earned a two-year tour card the previous year automatically qualified for the season. Next, eight places were allocated to the top eight on the One Year Ranking List who had not already qualified for the Main Tour. Another four players came from the CBSA China Tour, and a further 14 places were eligible through the 2021 Q School, four from each of the three events and an additional two from the Order of Merit). Two players from the World Women's Snooker Tour were given tour cards. Andrew Pagett, who won the 2020 EBSA European Championship, had his tour card deferred to this season and was subsequently given a tour card. The last two tour cards were invitational tour cards, given to Marco Fu and Jimmy White.
New professional players All players listed below received a tour card for two seasons.
Top 8 players from 2020/2021 One Year Ranking List
CBSA China Tour
World Women's Snooker Tour
Deferred Tour Place
Invitational Tour Card
Q School
Event 1
Event 2
Event 3
Order of Merit – Top 2
Top-up players As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restricting the number of amateur qualification tournaments that could be run and thus the total size of the Main Tour for this season, World Snooker Tour announced that the following six players were guaranteed an invite to all eligible snooker events this season, alongside amateurs appointed by local governing bodies for the Home Nations Series. This was due to their ranking on the Q School Order of Merit: Sanderson Lam Michael Georgiou Si Jiahui Soheil Vahedi Michael White David Lilley
Calendar The following tables outline the dates and results for all the World Snooker Tour, World Women's Snooker Tour, World Seniors Tour, Q Tour, and other events in the season.
World Snooker Tour Start Finish Tournament Venue Winner Runner-up 18 Jul 13 Aug Championship League Morningside Arena in Leicester, England 31 Gilbert Secures First Ranking Title. World Snooker Tour. 13 August 2021. 16 Aug 22 Aug British Open Morningside Arena in Leicester, England 64 Williams Lands 24th Ranking Crown. World Snooker Tour. 22 August 2021. 9 Oct 17 Oct Northern Ireland Open Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland 98 1 Nov 7 Nov English Open Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England 98 15Nov 21Nov Champion of Champions† Bolton Whites Hotel in Bolton, England 104 23 Nov 5 Dec UK Championship York Barbican in York, England 105 6 Dec 12 Dec Scottish Open Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales 95 13 Dec 19 Dec World Grand Prix Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry, England 108 9 Jan 16 Jan Masters† Alexandra Palace in London, England 104 20 Jan 23 Jan Shoot Out Morningside Arena in Leicester, England 10 26 Jan 30 Jan German Masters Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany 90 20 Dec 4 Feb Championship League Invitational† Morningside Arena in Leicester, England 32 7 Feb 13 Feb Players Championship Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton, England 105 21 Feb 27 Feb European Masters Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England 109 28 Feb 6 Mar Welsh Open ICC Wales, Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales 95 7 Mar 13 Mar Turkish Masters Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel in Antalya, Turkey 104 24 Mar 26 Mar Gibraltar Open Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar, Gibraltar 42 28 Mar 3 Apr Tour Championship Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales 109 16 Apr 2 May World Championship Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England 1813 Ranking event † Non-ranking event
European Series champion and Betvictor bonus winner:
World Women's Snooker Start Finish Tournament Venue Winner Runner-up 4 Sep 5 Sep UK Women's Championship Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England 40 27Nov 28Nov Eden Women's Masters Frames Sports Bar in London, England 43 15 Jan 16 Jan Women's British Open The Winchester in Leicester, England 43 11 Feb 14 Feb World Women's Championship Ding Junhui Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England 65 2 Apr 3 Apr Winchester Women's Open The Winchester in Leicester, England 40
World Seniors Tour
Start Finish Tournament Venue Winner Runner-up 4 Jan 7 Jan UK Seniors Championship Bonus Arena in Hull, England 41 4 May 8 May World Seniors Championship Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England 54
Q Tour
Start Finish Tournament Venue Winner Runner-up 19 Nov 21 Nov Q Tour 1 Castle Snooker Club in Brighton, England 51 10 Dec 12 Dec Q Tour 2 Terry Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli, Wales 54 28 Jan 30 Jan Q Tour 3 The Winchester in Leicester, England 52 18 Mar 20 Mar Q Tour 4 Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England 53 10 May 11 May Q Tour Playoff Q House Snooker Academy in Darlington, England 52
Other events Start Finish Tournament Venue Winner Runner-up 25 Sep 29 Sep Haining Open Haining Sports Center in Haining, China 50 He On A High In Haining. WPBSA. 30 September 2021.
World ranking points
The 2021–22 snooker season will feature the following points distribution for World Snooker Tour ranking events:
R144 R128 R112 R96 R80 R64 R48 R32 R24 R16 R6 Championship League 0 1,000 2,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 8,000 9,000 11,000 23,000 33,000 British Open 0 3,000 5,000 7,000 12,000 20,000 45,000 100,000 Northern Ireland Open 0 3,000 4,000 7,500 10,000 20,000 30,000 70,000 English Open 0 3,000 4,000 7,500 10,000 20,000 30,000 70,000 UK Championship 0 6,500 12,000 17,000 24,500 40,000 80,000 200,000 Scottish Open 0 3,000 4,000 7,500 10,000 20,000 30,000 70,000 World Grand Prix 5,000 7,500 12,000 20,000 40,000 100,000 Shoot Out 0 500 1,000 2,000 4,000 8,000 20,000 50,000 German Masters 0 3,000 4,000 5,000 10,000 20,000 35,000 80,000 Players Championship 10,000 15,000 30,000 50,000 125,000 European Masters 0 3,000 4,000 6,000 11,000 17,500 35,000 80,000 Welsh Open 0 3,000 4,000 7,500 10,000 20,000 30,000 70,000 Turkish Masters 0 3,500 5,500 7,500 12,500 20,000 45,000 100,000 Gibraltar Open 0 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 20,000 50,000 Tour Championship 20,000 40,000 60,000 150,000 World Championship 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 30,000 50,000 100,000 200,000 500,000
Notes
References
External links Calendar 2021/2022 at snooker.org