World Seniors Snooker Launches New Season with Increased Prize Money World Seniors Snooker (WSS) have today announced the dates for the 2025/26 season which will see nine tour events, with a minimum of four places available for players in their 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship via the ranking list qualification system
Changes for the new campaign mean anyone over 40, including World Snooker Tour (WST) professionals, are now eligible to participate in the tour events which will see the winner’s prize doubled each weekend to £1,000 and prize money being paid down to the last 16.
Jason Francis, Chairman of WSS, said “This season there are a lot more players eligible to play, including a number of WST professionals, and we have pledged £27,000 in prize money across our nine events which is more than double the amount that was on offer last season. If you are over 40, now is the time to dust off your cue and come and enjoy some friendly but serious competition”
The season will begin on Friday 15 August 2025 with all events played at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading.
TOUR DATES
2025
August 15-17
September 26-28
October 10-12
November 21-23
December 12-14
2026
January 16-18
February 6-8
March 6-8
April 3-5
On the Sunday of each weekend, a Super Seniors event will be staged for those aged over 55.
All events are now open for entry via WPBSA SnookerScores. A WSS Tour membership will be required in order to compete in the Race to the Crucible series.
The fact that players, including active professionals, are now eligible to compete on the Seniors Tour from the age of 40, instead of 45 in previous season, is a side effect of the failure of the negotiations between WST and Jason Francis, and one, I’m sure, that displeases WST much more than Jason…
How many active pros will be interested, and which ones, remains to be seen as they will have to set their priorities and find “spaces” in a rather full professional calendar. Another interesting question is wether the senior amateurs will feel excited at the prospect to play professionals and will embrace the challenge or if, on the contrary, this may be a deterrent if they feel that they have no chance to beat the pros.
All events will be played in Reading and that venue is very good but I remember the time, pre Brexit and pre covid, when some seniors qualifying events were played in mainland Europe. I wish it was still the case, but I guess, it would not be economically viable in the current state of affairs. It’s a shame though.
Mohamed Samy Elkhayat overcame Mohamed Alaa Khairy 5-4 in the final of the 2025 All-Africa Seniors Championship to earn an invitation to the 2026 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre.
Elkhayat, from Egypt, came through a field of 22 players from Africa to win the Seniors crown and earn the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of playing at the sport’s most iconic venue next May.
The Egyptian qualified for the knockout stages by finishing second place in a group that also featured the Moroccan duo of Said Machal and Idriss El Mokri as well as Mahomed Idrisse from Mozambique.
A deciding frame victory over Rabi Younes followed in the last 16 before more comfortable success against Ahmed Galal (4-0) and newly-crowned All-Africa Six-Red champion Allie Mutalieb (4-1) saw Elkhayat book his place in the final.
Former professional Khairy, who lost in the final of the main competition 12 months ago, was the opponent in the title match after he had beaten Mahjoub Tawdi in the semi-finals.
The final was a hard-fought contest that came down to a deciding frame but, ultimately, it was Elkhayat who was able to get over the line to earn the title.
Jersey champion Aaron Canavan defeated Guernsey champion Paul Le Sauvage 5-0 to win the 2025 Channel Islands Snooker Championship.
Canavan has now claimed the Channel Islands crown for each of the last four consecutive years. It is the 12th time overall that the 49-year-old has won the title and he maintains his 100% record of having never lost the unique champion v champion challenge match.
Pitching together the recent winners of the respective Jersey and Guernsey championships, the two biggest islands in the region take it in turns each year to host the encounter – this year it was held at the North Social Club in Saint Sampson, Guernsey.
Former world seniors champion Canavan took control of the tie early on, compiling a break of 71 on his way to securing the opening frame before doubling his lead. An effort of 50 helped him to a 3-0 advantage before he reached the hill with frame four. Canavan finished the contest in style, fashioning a run of 101 in the fifth frame to complete a whitewash.
This dozen of Channel Island triumphs came just days after he won an incredible 14th Jersey championship title.
For six consecutive years now, Canavan has conquered on the island. What’s more, it is the third year in succession that he has not dropped a single frame en route to glory. The last time he relinquished a frame was during a last 16 match against Brett Campbell in the 2022 edition. Canavan’s last defeat in the competition was the 2019 final when he was ousted 4-3 by Gary Britton.
In this year’s title match staging, Canavan registered breaks of 60, 67 and 73 in a 4-0 victory over former winner Karl le Fevre. It was the third year in-a-row that the two had met in the final.
A few weeks after his latest domestic glories, Canavan went all the way to the final of the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre where he was stopped by Alfie Burden. In his semi-final match, Canavan produced a memorable comeback as he pipped Dominic Dale, 6-5, having been 5-2 down.
Le Sauvage completes hat-trick of Guernsey crowns after 24-year wait
Although the Channel Islands title would prove to be a step too far, Paul Le Sauvage can look back on a fantastic domestic campaign in Guernsey that saw him win his third island crown.
Winner of the Guernsey Snooker Championship in 1994 and 2001, Le Sauvage ended a 24-year wait for his hat-trick, rewriting the record books in the process with the longest gap between titles in the 94-year history of the competition.
In the early rounds of this year’s event, Le Sauvage eliminated Ali Gilliland 3-1, Kate Le Gallez 3-0, and John Skillet 4-3, before recovering from 3-1 behind to dethrone defending champion Adam Shorto 4-3 in the semi-finals. Shorto had lifted the trophy in each of the last two years.
In the final at the North Social Club, Le Sauvage scored a 5-0 win over Roscoe Cloarec to regain the island’s top snooker prize.
As promised … it just took a bit longer because I had a “nightmare” trip back to my island… 1
Congratulations again Alfie!
and big thank you to World Seniors Snooker for having me!
A combination a of bad weather, delayed transports, canceled flight, temporarily lost luggage (… damaged too) … and arriving “home” only today as a result. ↩︎
Alfie Burden beat Aaron Canavan by 8 frames to 4 this afternoon to become the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Champion. The match was played in good spirit … and an unusual format. Indeed it featured two intervals – after four and eight frames – and was refereed by Michaela Tab, before the first interval, and by Proletina Velichkova after the first interval to the finish.
Michaela is retiring from snooker but will continue to referee in the “900” competitions for the time being.
Thank you for everything Michaela! We love you!
It was an emotional win for Alfie who had lost in the 2023 Final to Jimmy White. Lifting the trophy, surrounded by his children and friends meant everything to Alfie and it showed! His opponent, Aaron Canavan, who had won this title in 2018, was the first to congratulate him.. Aaron is a great player and a huge credit to his sport: at the table he gives it is all, when the match is over, win or lose, he’s always gracious.
Congratulations Alfie Burden!
and to Aaron Canavan, for a great run and for being such a great sportsman.
Image by Zheng Zai
PS: I will add my own images tomorrow, or on Tuesday. I’m traveling back to Greece tomorrow and need some rest…
Today’s final at the Crucible will be competed between two players who have been here before: Aaron Canavan, who won the title in 2018, and Alfie Burden who was runner-up in 2023.
Alfie Burden and Aaron Canavan will meet in the final of the 2025 JenningsBet World Seniors Snooker Championship on Sunday afternoon.
The two former finalists reached the title match by overcoming Hassan Kerde and Dominic Dale respectively on a memorable semi-final Saturday at the iconic Crucible Theatre.
Canavan heads into the title match aiming to become only the second multiple champion of the most prestigious event in seniors snooker, after four-time winner Jimmy White, while Burden hopes to go one step further than he did in 2023 when he ended as runner-up to ‘The Whirlwind’.
Former professional Burden and Asia-Pacific Seniors champion Kerde, from Australia, kicked off a bumper session with a best-of-11 frame contest.
Burden was in fine form and he wasted no time in racing into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 57 and 65. The Australian briefly rallied, taking back-to-back frames to half the deficit, but a rapid-fire contribution of 97 put Burden back in the acendency and he secured his place in the final by taking the next frame.
Post-match, Burden said: “It was a tough game but I was pleased with the way I played and it stands me in good stead for the final. I’ve prepared well, practiced hard and I feel confident. I feel really strong – I’m going out and expecting to win tomorrow.”
The second semi-final of the afternoon saw Canavan face Dale and, after sharing the first four frames of the contest, ‘The Spaceman’ appeared to step up a gear and fired in back-to-back century breaks of 109 and 131 before moving one frame from victory by taking the seventh.
The man from Jersey refused to go away, however, and managed to take the next three frames with a top visit of 65 to force an unlikely deciding frame.
The decider was a nervy affair with both players spurning golden opportunities for the win. Ultimately, it was Canavan who took it on the colours to complete a famous comeback and set up a final meeting with Burden.
Canavan said: “It was tough. After last night, I was really tired but I gave myself a good talking to in the dressing room and came out fighting. It’s dream, you never think that you will get there and then all of a sudden something happens and you’re actually living the dream.”
Here are the scores:
There was a huge crowd in attendance, proof if it was needed, that Seniors Snooker IS marketable
These are the results of the quarter-finals yesterday at the Crucible:
Dominic entered the arena wearing a long fur coat and a hat… apparently a tribute to Alex Higgins. I know that Jason Francis started the Seniors tour because of Alex, who he wanted to help but I also know he quickly had to give up on the man who couldn’t really play anymore. But Alex game wasn’t the main issue, it’s his behaviour that caused a lot of problems … as had been the case all his life. Alex certainly changed snooker forever but, in my eyes, he was a terrible person and reading his bios didn’t change my opinion, quite the opposite. Anyway … back to yesterday action … as you can see by the scores, Dominic played very well and, despite winning frame 2, Joe was never really in the match.
Neither Alfie nor Tony scored really heavily in their match. There was no break over 53 in the match, and 53 isn’t usually enough in itself to secure a frame. But … what a battle this was. They played all seven frames and every frame was close and hard-fought. Tony was gutted and, I guess, Alfie was more relieved than really happy.
Hassan Kerde and Charl Jonk probably served us the best match on the day. Both played well, especially considering that neither had played at the Crucible before this event. A very happy Hassan was interviewed after the match, accompanied by his wife. They are Muslims and she was fully covered, wearing a long dress, and a scarf that completely covered her hair … but she was with him on the floor, all smiles, filming his interview with a very state of the art smartphone … 😊
The last match of the day was a late, rather scrappy affair. Wayne made the only big break of the match, a 85 but lost by 4-2. Both can play better but it was late and they had to wait a long time before the table became available for them. Aaron has won this title before and, maybe, that helped him. Unlike Wayne, he isn’t in uncharted territory here at the Crucible.
It’s fair to say that yesterday at the Crucible didn’t yield the results most fans expected and, in some cases, probably probably wished. Hopefully it will not deter fans to attend the event. Personally, I find it interesting to discover how good some of the “overseas” seniors are. They are proof that snooker is played at a high level for a long time in many parts of the world, something that the UK centric organisation of the sport doesn’t promote enough.
Here are the match results on the day:
Jimmy White remains the crowd favourite but he’s 63 now but played Alfie Burden a much younger man (48) who is still competing on the main tour and Jimmy had little answers to his opponent superior consistency. Also, Alfie was certainly very motivated because he lost to Jimmy in the final of this event in 2023. It was a very painful defeat for Alfie at the time but he can now put that behind him.
Nobody knew much about Charl Jonk1 who had never played in this environment. Charl started slowly. He needed two frames to adapt to the conditions and the atmosphere. After that he proved to be very solid and a good scorer. He made two breaks over 60 in this match.
Tony Drago v Gerard Greene proved to be the best match on the day. It was tense, it was close and both played and scored well. Tony’s passion is strong as ever and he wears his heart on his sleeve. What’s not to like?
Hassan Kerde, from Australia, was an “unknown” quantity before his first match yesterday … he made four breaks over 50 in his trashing of Tony Knowles who scored just 61 points in total during the match.
Here are the afternoon session pictures:
And here the evening session pictures. Alas it’s very obvious that players like Jimmy and Ken losing early is likely to hit the attendance negatively. A lot of fans come to watch certain players only and aren’t very keen to “discover lesser known players
This was a good match as you can guess by the scores. There was a break over 50 in every frame bar one. Joe is still very much main tour standard and Fabio gave him a good game. Keep in mind that in Brazil they play on slightly smaller tables, that Fabio had to travel to Europe, deal with a huge time difference, played professional and that this is the Crucible … he did, really, really well!
A scrappier match and Proletina Velichkova debut on the Seniors tour. The first two frames were very close and generally the match was very, very scrappy, which was to be expected with these two…
Igor Figuereido 2-4 Wayne Townsend
It’s hard to know how much the pressure of being World Champion “weighted” on Igor. He was the heaviest scorer in this match but lost to an inspired Wayne who was supported by his wife and young daughter. Wayne is a very good player and those who follow the seniors snooker tour knew that already. Qualifying for this event isn’t easy. Wayne is also an “emotional” type of person and he showed his emotions during the match … for which he was criticised in some corners. So much so that he felt the need to apologise on Facebook:
Aaron Canavan 4-1 Andrew Norman
Aaron Canavan has won this title before and yesterday looked extremely determined to put his hands on the trophy again. Nothing against Aaron but I felt for Andrew who is a close friend and was well and truly outplayed for most of the match.
BYD Lookers Sheffield is offering a “Maximum Break Prize” at the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship and it’s a very “traditional” prize as well, reminiscent of the old days… here is the announcement:
BYD Lookers Sheffield Offer Maximum Break Prize at JenningsBet World Seniors Snooker Championship
World Seniors Snooker (WSS) is pleased to announce a partnership with BYD Lookers Sheffield which will see a BYD SEAL U awarded to the first player to make a maximum break in this year’s JenningsBet World Seniors Snooker Championship.
The BYD SEAL U applies captivating design philosophy to the SUV market by combining the oceanic aesthetics of BYD design with futuristic touches, resulting in a striking car for eco-conscious families.
Jason Francis, Chairman of WSS, said: “The JenningsBet World Seniors Snooker Championship celebrates legacy and memories, honouring former legends and creating new ones. For many, the historical prize for a 147 break was always a car and so we are delighted to partner with BYD Lookers Sheffield to offer this fantastic prize.”
Ryan Smith, General Manager of BYD Lookers Sheffield said “It’s great for BYD Sheffield to be involved with the World Seniors Snooker Championship and to showcase our brand at the famous Crucible Theatre live on Channel 5.”
The car on offer will be displayed outside the Crucible Theatre during the event and fans will be able to view it and book a test drive with BYD Lookers Sheffield.
The WPBSA World Seniors Tour 