This coming Monday sees the return of professional snooker to our television screens with the return of the World Cup from Wuxi, China.
The first staging of the event in four years, the tournament will see 24 teams (23 nations, with two teams for hosts China), battle it out for the title, with the group stages comprising four groups of six teams, with the top two from each progressing to the quarter-finals.
For a detailed look at the teams involved, you can view my articles on each group over at my blog at WPBSA.com, as well as a look at how those players were selected for this year’s event.
You can also take a look here at the World Snooker website to view the detailed rules for the event, as well as confirmation of the four groups and the fixtures.
Finally, click here to view the Eurosport broadcast schedules for the event.
Who will win? Obviously it is difficult to say given the format, but England look to have a strong chance, with the last two world champions Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham involved, both of whom are the top two ranked players in the world rankings.
Otherwise, the other usual suspects such as Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will also fancy their chances, while the Chinese, Thai and India teams also look to be well balanced and will fancy their chances.
While the event might only be an invitational event, with places in this year’s Champion of Champions and around £65,000 each on offer, there is much at stake for those involved.