World Championship 2025: Results, prize money & roll of honour

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Zhao beats Williams in historic final - highlights

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The 2025 World Snooker Championship started at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on 19 April and ended with Zhao Xintong beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final.

Zhao, 28, became the first champion from China after overcoming three-time champion Williams - who, at the age of 50, was the oldest ever Crucible finalist.

There was a major shock on the opening day when defending champion and top seed Kyren Wilson was knocked out 10-9 by Chinese qualifier Lei Peifan in the first round.

Seven-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan was playing in a 33rd consecutive edition of the tournament despite battling "stage fright" and "nerves" over the past two years.

The 49-year-old made it into the 14th semi-final of his storied career, following up wins over Ali Carter and Pang Junxu with a 13-9 defeat of Si Jiahui, but he was beaten 17-7 by Zhao in the last four.

World number one Judd Trump earned a £100,000 bonus for his 100th century break of the season in a second-round win over Masters champion Shaun Murphy and beat 2023 champion Luca Brecel for a place in the semi-final, where he lost 17-14 to Williams.

World Snooker Championship

19 April to 5 May

Results

Final

Mark Williams (6) 12-18 Zhao Xintong

Semi-finals

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 7-17 Zhao Xintong

Judd Trump (2) 14-17 Mark Williams (6)

Quarter-finals

John Higgins (3) 12-13 Mark Williams (6)

Chris Wakelin 5-13 Zhao Xintong

Luca Brecel (7) 8-13 Judd Trump (2)

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 13-9 Si Jiahui (13)

Second round

Mark Allen (8) 6-13 Chris Wakelin

Mark Williams (6) 13-10 Hossein Vafaei

John Higgins (3) 13-12 Xiao Guodong

Lei Peifan 10-13 Zhao Xintong

Shaun Murphy (15) 10-13 Judd Trump (2)

Si Jiahui (13) 13-10 Ben Woollaston

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 13-4 Pang Junxu

Luca Brecel (7) 13-4 Ding Junhui (10)

First round

Kyren Wilson (1) 9-10 Lei Peifan

Xiao Guodong (14) 10-4 Matthew Selt

Mark Williams (6) 10-8 Wu Yize

Barry Hawkins (11) 9-10 Hossein Vafaei

Neil Robertson (9) 8-10 Chris Wakelin

Jak Jones (16) 4-10 Zhao Xintong

Mark Allen (8) 10-6 Fan Zhengyi

John Higgins (3) 10-7 Joe O'Connor

Ding Junhui (10) 10-7 Zak Surety

Si Jiahui (13) 10-6 David Gilbert

Shaun Murphy (15) 10-4 Daniel Wells

Zhang Anda (12) 7-10 Pang Junxu

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 10-4 Ali Carter

Judd Trump (2) 10-4 Zhou Yuelong

Luca Brecel (7) 10-7 Ryan Day

Mark Selby (4) 8-10 Ben Woollaston

Who were the top 16 seeds?

Fourteen of the seeded players pose with the trophy outside the Crucible TheatreImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Fourteen of the 16 seeded players gathered at the Crucible Theatre for a group photograph before the tournament

As the defending champion, Wilson had the honour of being the top seed.

Trump began as the second seed, with four-time champions John Higgins and Mark Selby third and fourth respectively.

O'Sullivan, who was bidding for an eighth title to surpass the Crucible record he shares with Stephen Hendry, was seeded fifth.

Full seedings:

1) Kyren Wilson, 2) Judd Trump, 3) John Higgins, 4) Mark Selby

5) Ronnie O'Sullivan, 6) Mark Williams, 7) Luca Brecel, 8) Mark Allen

9) Neil Robertson, 10) Ding Junhui, 11) Barry Hawkins, 12) Zhang Anda

13) Si Jiahui 14) Xiao Guodong, 15) Shaun Murphy, 16) Jak Jones

What was the highest break?

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen made a 147 break in the 13th frame of his second-round match against Chris Wakelin.

He became only the 11th player to make a 147 at the Crucible. The maximum was the 15th at the venue in the tournament's history and the first since Selby's clearance in the 2023 final.

Allen, who was 10-2 behind in the match at the time, went on to lose 13-6 to qualifier Wakelin.

What was the format?

First-round matches were the best of 19 frames.

Second round and quarter-final matches were played over a maximum of 25 frames.

Semi-final matches were the best of 33 frames.

The final was the best of 35 frames.

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Ask Me Anything explainers

How much was the Crucible prize money?

The winner received £500,000 and there was a total prize fund of almost £2.4m.

Winner: £500,000

Runner-up: £200,000

Semi-finalists: £100,000

Quarter-finalists: £50,000

Last 16: £30,000

Last 32: £20,000

Highest break (qualifying stage included): £15,000

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Who came through qualifying?

Among the 16 players who secured their places at the Crucible was 2021 UK champion Zhao, while Daniel Wells, Zak Surety and Lei were the three Crucible debutants.

Zhao returned to the sport as an amateur player in September following a 20-month ban for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, and was one of a record 10 Chinese players involved in the first round.

Jack Lisowski, 2015 winner Stuart Bingham and world number 17 Gary Wilson were among the names to miss out.

Wales' Jackson Page, who in the third qualifying round became the first player to compile two maximum 147 breaks in the same match - earning a £147,000 bonus - failed to make the Crucible after losing 10-7 to Englishman Joe O'Connor in the final qualifying round.

Who are the past 10 champions?

2025: Zhao Xintong (China)

2024: Kyren Wilson (England)

2023: Luca Brecel (Belgium)

2022: Ronnie O'Sullivan (England)

2021: Mark Selby (England)

2020: Ronnie O'Sullivan (England)

2019: Judd Trump (England)

2018: Mark Williams (Wales)

2017: Mark Selby (England)

2016: Mark Selby (England)

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