Snooker Rankings: How They Work

A Guide to the Rankings System in Snooker

From the start of the 2014/15 season, the snooker world rankings will be be determined by a prize money list for the first time, replacing the previous points system that has been in operation in some form since the 1976/77 season.

Counting Money

All prize money earned from events carrying ranking event status will count towards a player’s official world ranking. This will not include money from invitational events such as the Masters, World Grand Prix, Champion of Champions or Championship League events.

For the avoidance of doubt, money earned from high break prizes or maximum break prizes will also not count towards a player’s world ranking under the prize money list.

For events counting from the 2013/14 season, where prize money is won without a player winning a match in a tournament, eg at events in operation under the ‘tiered’ system such as the World Championship, only 50% of that prize money will count towards the prize money ranking list.

For events from the start of the 2014/15 season, where prize money is won without a player winning a match in a tournament, none of that prize money will count towards the prize money ranking list.

Exchange Rates

The prize money based ranking list is calculated using British Pounds Sterling and those events which are paid in overseas currency are converted into Sterling. For the 2013/2014 season events, Euros will be converted at standard rate of €1.20 for £1 and Australian Dollars will be converted at a standard rate of $1.60 to £1.

Rolling Rankings

As has been the case since the start of the 2010/11 season, the rankings will run under a ‘rolling’ system, meaning that as points for the current season are added to the ranking list, points from two years previously will be replaced.

An important point to note however is that whilst the official rankings are updated after each completed event, the seedings for future events, which are ultimately what are most important for the player to know, are not.

Instead the seedings will be revised at SEVEN points times during the season, in addition to the end of season revision following the 2015 World Championship.

The mid-season revisions during 2014/15 will take place on the following dates:

• Following the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open on the 6th July 2014.
• Following the 2014 Shanghai Masters event on the 14th September 2014.
• Following the 2014 International Championship on the 2nd November 2014.
• Following the 2014 UK Championship on the 7th December 2014.
• Following the 2015 Haikou World Open on the 1st February 2015.
• Following the 2015 German Masters on the 8th February 2015.
• Following the 2015 China Open on the 5th April 2015.

In effect, this means that at any one time, there will be three separate lists of relevance for fans and players alike:

1. The Current Seeding List – This list determines the upcoming events, eg at the start of the 2014/15 season, the seeding list after the 2014 World Championship will determine the seedings for the 2014 Wuxi Classic and Australian Goldfields Open tournaments.
2. The Official Ranking List – This list tells you the latest official rankings. In reality, however, this list can be misleading, as it will generally include prize money from events that will not count at the time of the next seedings revision. Except from immediately after a mid-season seedings revision, this list in itself does not determine anything more than who sits where in the arena and has no effect on who has to qualify for particular events and who does not.
3. The Projected Seedings List – This is not an official list that you will see at World Snooker’s website, but in reality it is the most important list and in effect represents the provisional rankings up until the next seeding revision. Unlike the official rankings, this list already removes any money that will not be used following the next seedings cut-off, so as to show the true picture as to where the players stand. For example at the start of the 2014/15 season, this list shows how the rankings will be adjusted at the first mid-season seedings revision, having already removed the money from the early events of the 2012/13 season two years previously.

As a result, rather than having one table to cover the season, I have will a table leading up to each individual seedings revision, beginning with the the first in July 2014. The latest list will always be available here.

To demonstrate just who has the most to lose at each cut-off point I will also be presenting ‘points to defend’ tables, an example of which you can see here.

There are also separate Orders of Merit for both the European Tour and Asian Tour events during the 2014/15 season. The top 24 on the European list following the Gdynia Open and the top eight on the Asian list following AT4 will qualify for the 2015 Players Championship Grand Finals.

To access all of my rankings pages, please click here to return to the main rankings menu.