This was announced yesterday by Jason Francis on social media and is now reported on the WSS official site:
World Seniors Snooker Championship Shootout Qualifying Event Unveiled
World Seniors Snooker (WSS) is delighted to announce that an additional qualification place will be made available to tour players at the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship following a change in the qualifying criteria
The top two players on the official World Seniors Snooker ranking list, as well as the top two on the ‘Race to the Crucible’ one-year list will earn their places in the Crucible Theatre, as previously announced, and they will now be joined by the winner of a newly announced ‘Top 16 Shootout’ event.
The 16 players qualifying for this new event will be those ranked between 3rd and 10th on both lists with the official ranking list taking precedence at all times.
Jason Francis, Chairman of WSS, said: “We want to be a tour that listens to its members. We have listened and we have reacted and it now the fight is not just for the top two spots on each ranking list, but also for the top ten.”
A full list of dates and venues can be found below:
2024
9-11 August (Reading)
27-29 September (Reading)
11-13 October (Reading)
22-24 November (Reading)
13-15 December (Reading)
2025
17-19 January (Newbury)
7-9 February (Reading)
7-9 March (Reading)
4-6 April (Reading)
Amateur players must be 40 on or before the first days play in each event, while professionals ranked outside the top 64 at the start of the 2024/25 season must be over 45 on or before the first days play.
Entries for all events are now open at WPBSA SnookerScores and will close seven days prior to each event.
There is no doubt that Jason is investing himself 100% to further develop the Seniors Snooker Tour, a tour that badly suffered from the covid crisis and its aftermath. In the early years the tour relied a lot on the past legends of the sport. Those players have earned the privilege and are still attracting a lot of fans. But it’s not viable as a long term strategy of course and – to make it worse – some of the oldest players on the main tour stubbornly continue to play very wel, sit at the top of the rankings and refuse to retire. The rascals! 😡😉
Michael Day is a massive snooker fan and is very active on social media. He has been talking to Jason Francis about all things snooker, notably about what it’s like to manage Ronnie, how the Snooker Legends started, the success of the 900 and his plans for the Seniors Tour.
Jason is clearly committed to further develop the Seniors Tour but only has limited means and 24 hours in the day.
Points will continue to be awarded for every frame won at each of the nine events.
The official world rankings are now a two-year rolling system with players defending points from the last two seasons.
The top two ranked players on the official world rankings on 7 April 2025 will be invited to participate in the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The Race to the Crucible series will be based purely on performances across the 2024/25 season and will encourage new tour players to join with them not thinking they are a year behind those already established.
The top two ranked players on the Race to the Crucible series ranking list on 7 April 2025 will be invited to participate in the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Should the same players sit in the top two of both rankings lists then the official world rankings would take priority.
CUT OFF DATES
On the official world ranking list, the following points will be removed in line with upcoming events:
Even 1: August 9-11, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 1
Event 2: Sept 27–29, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Open Series 1
Event 3: Oct 11-13, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 2
Event 4: Nov 22-24, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Open Series 2
Event 5: December 13-15, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 3
Event 6: Jan 17-19, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 WSS Qualifier 4
Event 7: Feb 7-9, points awarded will replace those won at 2022/2023 Open Series 3
Event 8: March 7-9, no points to come off.
Event 9: April 4-6, no points to come off.
2025 World Seniors Championship: players will be defending points won at the 2023 World Seniors Championship
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 