The wait is nearly over, the field has been set, the draw has been made and the World Snooker Championship will begin on Saturday morning at the Crucible.
Kyren Wilson will be there to start the defence of his title in the first session in Sheffield, taking on Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan in the opening round.
There are some brilliant first round draws to look forward to, most notably Ronnie O’Sullivan taking on his old rival Ali Carter for a place in the last 16.
World number one Judd Trump plays Zhou Yuelong, last year’s runner-up Jak Jones has a tough test in Zhao Xintong and Masters champ Shaun Murphy plays debutant Daniel Wells.
Form horses Mark Selby and John Higgins have Ben Woollaston and Joe O’Connor respectively, while Neil Robertson takes on Chris Wakelin.
There is sure to be shocks in the opening round as the Crucible always throws up surprise results, just as it did last year throughout a wildly unpredictable event.
With two tables on show until the semi-finals and three sessions on most days, there is a huge amount of world class snooker to come in Sheffield from the opening Saturday on April 19 to the closing Monday on May 5.
2025 World Snooker Championship draw
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan
Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter
Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu
Si Jiahui vs Dave Gilbert
Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize
Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day
Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety
Shaun Murphy vs Daniel Wells
Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong
How to watch the World Snooker Championship
The tournament will be shown live on the BBC and on TNT Sports, with streaming available on the BBC iPlayer, BBC website and on Discovery+.
The BBC schedule is available here.
World Championship first round schedule
Saturday April 19
10.00
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan
Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt
14.30
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize
19.00
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei
Sunday April 20
10.00
Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong
Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt
14.30
Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize
19.00
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei
Monday April 21
10.00
Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
14.30
Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi
Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety
19.00
Si Jiahui vs Dave Gilbert
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
Tuesday April 22
10.00
Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu
Shaun Murphy vs Dan Wells
14.30
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter
Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety
19.00
Si Jiahui vs Dave Gilbert
Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong
Wednesday April 23
10.00
Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu
Shaun Murphy vs Dan Wells
14.30
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter
Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day
19.00
Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston
Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong
Thursday April 24
14.30
Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day
19.00
Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston
World Snooker Championship prize money
Winner: £500,000
Runner-up: £200,000
Semi-finalists: £100,000
Quarter-finalists: £50,000
Last 16: £30,000
Last 32: £20,000
Last 48: £15,000
Last 80: £10,000
Last 112: £5,000
Highest break (qualifying stage included): £15,000
World Snooker Championship odds
Judd Trump 10/3
Mark Selby 5/1
Kyren Wilson 13/2
Ronnie O’Sullivan 7/1
John Higgins 12/1
Neil Robertson 14/1
Zhao Xintong 14/1
Shaun Murphy 16/1
Mark Allen 18/1
Barry Hawkins 25/1
Ding Junhui 25/1
Wu Yize 33/1
Si Jiahui 33/1
Luca Brecel 40/1
Mark Williams 40/1
Xiao Guodong 40/1
Joe O’Connor 50/1
Zhang Anda 55/1
Hossein Vafaei 66/1
Ali Carter 66/1
Jak Jones 66/1
Chris Wakelin 66/1
Pang Junxu 66/1
David Gilbert 100/1
Zhou Yuelong 100/1
Ryan Day 125/1
Fan Zhengyi 125/1
Lei Peifan 125/1
Matthew Selt 150/1
Zak Surety 150/1
Ben Woollaston 275/1
Daniel Wells 325/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair