The 2025 World Snooker Championship will once again be played in Sheffield, the Snooker capital of the world. This is the 48th consecutive time that the championship will take place in the legendary Crucible Theatre. The 16 top players in the world will play against 16 qualifiers, who have to go through an arduous qualification tournament. Everything leads up to the climax, the final, which will be played over two days and which may require an incredible 35 frames to be decided.
Where?
The Snooker World Championship will once again be played in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, just a few hundred yards from the train station and close to all the major hotels and sights. The Crucible has hosted the World Snooker Championship ever since 1977, and at the beginning of the 2017 championships, World Snooker boss Barry Hearn announced, that he had made an agreement with the City of Sheffield that the World Snooker Championship will be played there until at least 2027. But while most snooker fans may have thought, that the Crucible Theatre would be the home of the Snooker World Championship forever, recent statements by Hearn have put this into doubt, and there is now a risk that this most prestigious tournament on the snooker tour will move to China or Saudi Arabia after 2027, unless Sheffield renovates the aging venue (or builds a new one). So if you want to experience snooker at the Crucible before it is too late, now may be the time!
When?
The World Snooker Championship 2025 is scheduled to be played from April 19 until May 5, 2025.
Once the tournament commences, play will take place on two tables simultaneously up to and including the quarterfinals. 1st round is best of 19 frames, second round and the quarterfinals are best of 25, the semifinals are best of 33 and the final is best of 35 frames.
Tickets for the World Snooker Championship 2025 – and where to get them?
Tickets are not yet available, but a priority sale will open at 9am (GMT) on Sunday, May 5, for those who have signed up (for free and no strings attached) before May 4 at 5pm on the World Snooker website. The general sale will start on Monday May 6 at 9am, but there is a risk that many sessions will be sold out already by then.
For the 2024 tournament, tickets started from £40 for a 1st round session in the back rows (£105 for one of the first five rows!), £45 for a 2nd round session, £60 for a session in the quarter-finals, £80-90 for a semifinal session and £120-130 per session for the final.
VIP packages, which includes dinner, drinks and a meeting with a legend, were available from £350 per session, but only for the semifinals and the final. The even more luxurious Century Club tickets were available for all sessions, starting at £340 for a 1st round session, going up to £600 for the fourth session of the final. They included fine dining, cheeseboards, complimentary bar and seats on row A or B. Tickets prices on this site will be updates as they become available.
Where to stay for the World Snooker Championship 2025?
There are a number of good hotels in Sheffield close to the Crucible Theatre. Recommended options are the 4-starred Novotel and Mercure, both of them very close to the Crucible, and both of them used by World Snooker. In 2015, finalist Stuart Bingham praised the Mercure for their hospitality during the tournament. Budget travellers are recommended to try the nearby Ibis Sheffield Centre, which is usually good value for money. Other Sheffield hotels are available here.
Remember to book early, as the World Snooker Championships draws a lot of people to visit Sheffield. For most of the hotels recommended above, it is possible to book them early without paying a deposit and to cancel them for free, if you don’t need it after all.
Going to Sheffield for the World Snooker Championship 2025
There are good flight connections to most of Europe as well as overseas to/from Manchester Airport and Birmingham Airport, both of which are about 1½ hrs by train from Sheffield. Tickets from the airports to Sheffield can be had from around £10 for a single if you book your ticket in advance. If you do not, you may have to pay up to around £30. It is also possible to go from London St. Pancras in about 2 hours – those tickets are available from around £15 if bought well in advance. Train tickets can be purchased from www.tpexpress.co.uk.
I signed up for priority tickets and was told I would get an email before the ticket office open but havnt had one.
It will go out at 9am
The email went into the promotions folder, not your main inbox. Check there. I got the email and have purchased two tickets. The final sold-out almost instantly though!
Probably went into spam folder like mine
Tried to get tickets yesterday and today all final session tickets sold out yesterday on pre sale gutted