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Home Snooker

10 storylines of the new snooker season as the 2025-26 campaign begins

Naijabliss by Naijabliss
June 23, 2025
in Snooker
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10 storylines of the new snooker season as the 2025-26 campaign begins

Zhao Xintong shakes hands with England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan after winning his semi final match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

There are big seasons ahead for Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong (Picture: Action Images via Reuters)

The 2025/26 snooker season gets underway on Sunday in the low-key surroundings of Wuhan Open qualifying in Leicester, the first page of many fascinating stories to follow.

It was only last month that Zhao Xintong became world champion and there has barely been a break from snooker since, with the Women’s World Championship, Q School, Senior’s World Championship and more being played since the Cyclone’s triumph.

Zhao’s return from a ban, obliteration of the amateur circuit and then surge to the world title, becoming the first Chinese world champion, was one of the stories of the season.

The highs and lows of Ronnie O’Sullivan will provide a tale in most snooker campaigns and the last one was no different, with the new season set to be the same.

From the tournament-winners to those slipping down the rankings and plenty more scrapping to retain professional status, there is going to be no shortage of intrigue over the next year.

There will be plenty of unexpected winners, losers and situations cropping up over the season, but from the off, there are some interesting storylines to follow.

Here are 10 narratives that will ebb and flow over the campaign and will be well worth keeping an eye on.

Will the world champ sparkle or struggle?

SNOOKER-WORLD

Zhao Xintong will deal with the pressure of being world champion for the first time (Picture: Getty Images)

For the third year on the spin we are starting the season with a brand new world champion, this time in Zhao Xintong after his maiden Crucible triumph in May.

In 2023 Luca Brecel became world champ for the first time and then went missing, with just the odd flash of brilliance amid a largely forgettable year on the table.

Kyren Wilson was quite the opposite, soaring to new levels of success after becoming world champion in 2024. How will Zhao compare to the two men to lift the trophy in Sheffield before him?

Probably pretty well. The Cyclone was barely challenged at the Crucible and his seemingly unflappable demeanour will serve him well. There is pressure, though, big pressure, so we will see how he deals with it.

Ronnie O’Sullivan had a remarkable 2024/25 campaign, even by his standards. With a disappointing but not disastrous first half, followed by months away from the game after snapping his cue in frustration at the Championship League in January.

He returned to play below par but still reach the semis of the World Championship, despite chopping and changing his equipment along the way.

The Rocket said he intends to play a busy schedule over the next two years, ditching exhibitions and coaches, just concentrating on tournament play. It will be fascinating to see if he can get back to somewhere near his immense best.

He needs to get some wins on the board, because he starts the season with a projected Crucible ranking outside the top 16, so would face World Championship qualifying in 2026.

European breaks

More and more players from Europe seem to make their way onto tour each year, with Austria’s Florian Nuessle coming aboard this season, while Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko is back and the additions of Mateusz Baranowski and 14-year-old Michal Szubarczyk take Poland’s tally to three professionals.

They all have a long way to go to join Luca Brecel as genuine challengers for ranking titles from the continent, but exciting, young talent now appears as – if not more – likely to come from mainland Europe than the UK.

The progress of emerging talents like Bulcsu Revesz and Antoni Kowalski will be interesting to follow in their second seasons as professionals.

Zhao Xintong is now world champion and we have two stunning young talents in Si Jiahui and Wu Yize lurking on the fringes of the very top of the sport.

There is no shortage of Chinese stars ready to make the move up a level or two this season, with Pang Junxu, Lei Peifan, Yuan Sijun and Xu Si all candidates. Zhou Yuelong could finally make the move that has been expected of him for some time.

Even lower down the rankings, He Guoqiang, Fan Zhengyi and Liu Hongyu could do a lot of damage, having already proved they are capable of doing so.

Last season we saw tour stalwarts Joe Perry, Dominic Dale and Anthony Hamilton all head off into retirement. Dale did so willingly, while Perry and Hamilton dropped off tour and will not return.

There are some names floating around the cut-off point on the projected rankings that you may not expect to be there and could be fighting for their careers come April.

Anthony McGill (61) and Robert Milkins (70) are perhaps the most surprising, with the Milkman in an especially perilous position. Jamie Jones and Jordan Brown are two more experienced players hovering around the projected number 64 spot.

There is plenty of snooker to play before anyone loses their tour card, but it is a situation to follow.

Tags: fascinatingLeicesterSnookerXintong
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