2019 Championship League

Championship League

Tournament information
Dates	1 January – 14 March 2019 (2019-01-01 – 2019-03-14)
Venue	Ricoh Arena and Barnsley Metrodome
City	Coventry and Barnsley
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£177,800
Winner's share	£10,000 (plus bonuses)
Highest break	David Gilbert (ENG) (147)
Final
Champion	Martin Gould (ENG)
Runner-up	Jack Lisowski (ENG)
Score	3–1
← 2018 2019–20 →

The 2019 Championship League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, taking place from 1 January to 14 March 2019 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry (Group 1–6) and at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley (Group 7 and the Winners' Group), both in England.^[1][2] It was the 12th staging of the tournament.

David Gilbert made the historic 147th maximum break in his group 5 round robin match against Stephen Maguire.^[3] It was Gilbert's second professional maximum break (he achieved his first in the 2015 Championship League), and it was the sixth consecutive year that a maximum was made in the Championship League.

During the round robin matches, Neil Robertson recorded his 600th career century in Group 1, and Ding Junhui his 500th in Group 7. And during the Winners' Group round robin matches, John Higgins made his 750th career century break, and Judd Trump also recorded his 600th.

John Higgins was a two-time defending champion, having retained his 2017 title with a 3–2 victory against Zhou Yuelong in the 2018 final.^[4] However, Higgins lost 3–0 to Martin Gould in the semi-finals.

Martin Gould went on to win his second Championship League title, beating Jack Lisowski 3–1 in the final.^[5]

The Championship League event sees 25 professionals (including substitutes; 28 players in 2019) take part, with players earning prize money for every frame won. Matches are best of 5 frames, and the league is played from January to March 2019.

The competition runs over eight groups, each consisting of seven players. From each group the top four qualify for a play-off, and the winners of the first seven play-offs qualify 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. The winners play in the final group, and the winner of the Winners' Group play-off takes the title and a place at the 2019 Champion of Champions.

The breakdown of prize money for the 2019 Championship League is shown below.^[6]

• Tournament total: £177,800

Group 1 was played on 1 and 2 January 2019. Neil Robertson was the first player to qualify for the Winners' Group, recording his 600th career century in the round-robin match against Anthony Hamilton.^[7][8]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Neil Robertson (AUS)	6	4	2	15	9	+6	Qualification to Group 1 play-off
2	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	6	4	2	14	13	+1
3	Ricky Walden (ENG)	6	3	3	12	11	+1
4	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	6	3	3	12	13	−1
5	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	6	3	3	11	11	0	Advances into Group 2
6	Mark King (ENG)	6	3	3	11	12	−1	Eliminated from the competition
7	Robert Milkins (ENG)	6	1	5	9	15	−6

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Neil Robertson (AUS)	3
	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	0
					Neil Robertson (AUS)	3
					Jack Lisowski (ENG)	0
	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	3
	Ricky Walden (ENG)	1

Group 2 was played on 3 and 4 January 2019. Jack Lisowski was the second player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[9]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	6	5	1	16	10	+6	Qualification to Group 2 play-off
2	Luca Brecel (BEL)	6	4	2	12	10	+2
3	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	6	3	3	13	12	+1
4	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	6	3	3	13	14	−1
5	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	3	3	11	12	−1	Advances into Group 3
6	Ricky Walden (ENG)	6	2	4	12	14	−2	Eliminated from the competition
7	Anthony Hamilton (ENG)	6	1	5	10	15	−5

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	3
	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	2
					Jack Lisowski (ENG)	3
					Luca Brecel (BEL)	0
	Luca Brecel (BEL)	3
	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	2

Group 3 was played on 7 and 8 January 2019. Judd Trump was the third player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[10]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	6	4	2	16	10	+6	Qualification to Group 3 play-off
2	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6	4	2	14	9	+5
3	Mark Selby (ENG)	6	4	2	14	11	+3
4	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	3	3	13	13	0
5	Luca Brecel (BEL)	6	3	3	11	13	−2	Advances into Group 4
6	Kyren Wilson (ENG)	6	2	4	10	12	−2	Eliminated from the competition
7	Jimmy Robertson (ENG)	6	1	5	7	17	−10

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	2
	Judd Trump (ENG)	3
					Judd Trump (ENG)	3
					Barry Hawkins (ENG)	0
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	3
	Mark Selby (ENG)	2

Group 4 was played on 9 and 10 January 2019. Stuart Bingham was the fourth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[11]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Mark Selby (ENG)	6	5	1	16	7	+9	Qualification to Group 4 play-off
2	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	6	3	3	13	11	+2
3	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6	3	3	11	10	+1
4	Ali Carter (ENG)	6	3	3	11	12	−1
5	Luca Brecel (BEL)	6	3	3	10	13	−3	Advances into Group 5
6	Ryan Day (WAL)	6	2	4	11	14	−3	Eliminated from the competition
7	Graeme Dott (SCO)	6	2	4	10	15	−5

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Mark Selby (ENG)	3
	Ali Carter (ENG)	1
					Mark Selby (ENG)	1
					Stuart Bingham (ENG)	3
	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	3
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	1

Group 5 was played on 21 and 22 January 2019. Mark Selby was the fifth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[12]

Note

Due to illness, Luca Brecel withdrew from the tournament prior to group 5 play. He was replaced in the group by David Gilbert.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	David Gilbert (ENG)	6	5	1	16	10	+6	Qualification to Group 5 play-off
2	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	6	4	2	14	10	+4
3	Mark Selby (ENG)	6	3	3	13	10	+3
4	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6	3	3	12	12	0
5	Ali Carter (ENG)	6	3	3	11	13	−2	Advances into Group 6
6	Anthony McGill (SCO)	6	2	4	10	15	−5	Eliminated from the competition
7	Joe Perry (ENG)	6	1	5	9	15	−6

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	David Gilbert (ENG)	0
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	3
					Barry Hawkins (ENG)	0
					Mark Selby (ENG)	3
	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	2
	Mark Selby (ENG)	3

Group 6 was played on 23 and 24 January 2019. Martin Gould was the sixth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[13]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6	5	1	16	7	+9	Qualification to Group 6 play-off
2	Mark Davis (ENG)	6	4	2	14	11	+3
3	Martin Gould (ENG)	6	4	2	13	8	+5
4	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	6	3	3	11	14	−3
5	David Gilbert (ENG)	6	2	4	11	13	−2	Advances into Group 7
6	Ali Carter (ENG)	6	2	4	11	14	−3	Eliminated from the competition
7	Xiao Guodong (CHN)	6	1	5	6	15	−9

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	3
	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	1
					Barry Hawkins (ENG)	2
					Martin Gould (ENG)	3
	Mark Davis (ENG)	1
	Martin Gould (ENG)	3

Group 7 was played on 11 and 12 March 2019. John Higgins was the seventh and final player to qualify for the Winners' Group.^[14]

Note

David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins withdrew from the tournament prior to group 7 play. They were replaced by Tom Ford and Noppon Saengkham.

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	John Higgins (SCO)	6	6	0	18	2	+16	Qualification to Group 7 play-off
2	Noppon Saengkham (THA)	6	5	1	16	8	+8
3	Ding Junhui (CHN)	6	4	2	12	11	+1
4	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	6	2	4	11	15	−4
5	Mark Davis (ENG)	6	2	4	9	16	−7	Eliminated from the competition
6	Tom Ford (ENG)	6	1	5	9	16	−7
7	Michael White (WAL)	6	1	5	9	16	−7

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	John Higgins (SCO)	3
	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	1
					John Higgins (SCO)	3
					Ding Junhui (CHN)	0
	Noppon Saengkham (THA)	2
	Ding Junhui (CHN)	3

The Winners' Group was played on 13 and 14 March 2019. Martin Gould won his second Championship League title, beating Jack Lisowski 3–1 in the final. During the round robin matches, John Higgins made his 750th career century break. On the second day, Judd Trump made his 600th career century in his match against Martin Gould.^[15]

Pos	Player	Pld	W	L	FF	FA	FD
1	Neil Robertson (AUS)	6	4	2	13	10	+3	Qualification to Winners' Group play-off
2	Martin Gould (ENG)	6	4	2	12	9	+3
3	John Higgins (SCO)	6	3	3	13	13	0
4	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	6	3	3	12	11	+1
5	Mark Selby (ENG)	6	3	3	12	11	+1	Eliminated from the competition
6	Judd Trump (ENG)	6	3	3	11	11	0
7	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	6	1	5	8	16	−8

	Semi-finals Best of 5 frames				Final Best of 5 frames
	Neil Robertson (AUS)	0
	Jack Lisowski (ENG)	3
					Jack Lisowski (ENG)	1
					Martin Gould (ENG)	3
	Martin Gould (ENG)	3
	John Higgins (SCO)	0

Total: 104^[16]

Bold: highest break in the indicated group.

No.	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	W	TOTAL
1	Martin Gould (ENG) (27)						6,100		14,200	20,300
2	Jack Lisowski (ENG) (16)	4,300	6,400						8,600	19,300
3	Mark Selby (ENG) (1)			3,250	5,300	6,100			2,400	17,050
4	John Higgins (SCO) (4)							7,100	5,600	12,700
5	Neil Robertson (AUS) (10)	6,800							5,600	12,400
6	Barry Hawkins (ENG)(2) (7)			4,300	2,400	4,100	5,100			15,900
7	Stuart Bingham (ENG) (12)			3,450	6,100				1,600	11,150
8	Judd Trump (ENG) (5)		1,100	6,100					3,200	10,400
9	Stephen Maguire (SCO) (15)					3,000	2,400	2,400		7,800
10	Luca Brecel (BEL)(1) (14)		4,100	1,100	1,000					6,200
11	Ali Carter (ENG) (17)				2,400	1,100	1,600			5,100
12	Jimmy Robertson (ENG) (23)	1,100	2,900	700						4,700
13	Kyren Wilson (ENG) (9)		3,400	1,000						4,400
14	David Gilbert (ENG)(2) (19)					3,100	1,100			4,200
15	Ding Junhui (CHN) (8)							4,100		4,100
16	Ricky Walden (ENG) (34)	2,500	1,200							3,700
17	Mark Davis (ENG) (35)						2,700	900		3,600
18	Anthony Hamilton (ENG) (30)	2,200	1,000							3,200
=	Noppon Saengkham (THA) (32)							3,200		3,200
20	Mark King (ENG) (26)	1,100								1,100
=	Ryan Day (WAL) (13)				1,100					1,100
22	Graeme Dott (SCO) (22)				1,000					1,000
=	Anthony McGill (SCO) (20)					1,000				1,000
24	Robert Milkins (ENG) (32)	900								900
=	Joe Perry (ENG) (18)					900				900
=	Tom Ford (ENG) (28)							900		900
=	Michael White (WAL) (36)							900		900
28	Xiao Guodong (CHN) (25)						600			600
	Total prize money	18,900	20,100	19,900	19,300	19,300	19,600	19,500	41,200	177,800

Green: Won the group. Bold: Highest break in the group. All prize money in GBP.
Parenthesis: Ranking prior to tournament start, 1 January 2019.
Notes
⁽¹⁾ Due to illness, Luca Brecel withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 5 play.
⁽²⁾ Barry Hawkins and David Gilbert withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 7 play.

• http://www.championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/
• http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/?year=2019&month=1 Archived 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine