2022 Snooker Global Events

With both 2020 and 2021 disrupted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, snooker lovers are hoping for an action-packed year in 2022. Those desperate for live action will flock to sports arenas for a glimpse of their favourite players, while others will log on to popular betting sites to wager on their pick for the eventual winner. Whichever group you fit into, you’ll enjoy the lineup of global snooker events in 2022.

Will Mark Selby hang onto his World Championship title for another year, or will Ronnie O’Sullivan let his experience do the talking? What about Judd Trump? Will he regain his number one world ranking? Let’s take a look at the snooker events destined to attract the greatest support at the bookies this year.

Invitational Masters: 9 - 16 January 2022

The 48th Invitational Masters kicks off the new year, running from the 9th - 16th January 2022. This is the second longest-running tournament, played every year since it started in 1975, and is one of the most significant snooker events on the current calendar. After the disappointment of the 2021 tournament being played behind closed doors, Alexandra Palace in London will undoubtedly be alive with spectators in January.

Yan Bingtao and John Higgins contested the final in 2021, with the Chinaman ending up victorious in his first Invitational Masters, just shy of his 21st birthday. He was the youngest player to win this prestigious tournament since England’s Mark Selby in 2008.

As expected, the 2022 Masters welcomes the top 16 players in the world rankings. The reigning champion will be up against experienced Welshman Mark Williams in the first round, while World Champion Mark Selby takes on world number 11, Stephen Maguire.

World Snooker Championships: 16 April - 2 May 2022

The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, will host the World Snooker Championships from 16 April to 2 May 2022. BetFred once again sponsors the tournament as it has done since 2015 and, before that, from 2009 - 2012.

This is a knock-out event with 32 players fighting for the most sought-after title in world snooker. The top 16 ranked players, including the current world champion Mark Selby, seeded number one for the event, receive automatic entries. The balance of the 32 players made it through the tough qualifying rounds played in the two weeks leading up to the finals.

The final in 2021 was an all-England affair, contested by Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy. Selby went on to win his fourth world title 18-15, with Murphy ending as runner-up for the fourth time. The latter has just one World Championship title to his name. Should he go all the way in 2022, it will be 17 years since he first lifted the trophy.

Cazoo UK Championship: 8 - 20 November 2022

The UK Championships is the second biggest ranking event on the snooker calendar. It’s the third event making up the triple crown series after the Invitational Masters and the World Championships.

The York Barbican in York, England, hosts the tournament for the 17th time since its early days as a non-ranking tournament back in 1977. For the second year running, Cazoo, a British online car retailer, will sponsor the event under a sponsorship agreement that was inked in February 2021.

Australia’s Neil Robertson, currently world number four, has won this tournament three times. The most recent was in 2020 when he beat England’s Judd Trump by a narrow one- frame margin. He defended his title in the 2021 edition but lost to John Astley in the first round. China’s Zhao Xintong was the eventual winner of the UK Championship, beating Belgium’s Luca Brecel 10-5 in the final.

Conclusion

There’s plenty more snooker action throughout the year, but these tournaments have the added prestige of making up the Triple Crown, an accolade that goes to any player winning all three events during his career.

Other exciting ranking snooker events to look out for are the BetVictor German Masters in January and the Nirvana Turkish Masters in March. With so many top players contesting these and other tournaments, you don’t want to miss a frame of the second half of the 2021- 2022 snooker season.