2019 Championship League


The 2019 Championship League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, taking place from at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, both in England. It was the 12th staging of the tournament.
David Gilbert made the historic 147th maximum break in his group 5 round robin match against Stephen Maguire. It was Gilbert's second professional maximum break, and it was the sixth consecutive year that a maximum was made in the Championship League.
During the round robin matches, Neil Robertson recorded his 600th career century in Group 1, and Ding Junhui his 500th in Group 7. And during the Winners' Group round robin matches, John Higgins made his 750th career century break, and Judd Trump also recorded his 600th.
John Higgins was a two-time defending champion, having retained his 2017 title with a 3–2 victory against Zhou Yuelong in the 2018 final. However, Higgins lost 3–0 to Martin Gould in the semi-finals.
Martin Gould went on to win his second Championship League title, beating Jack Lisowski 3–1 in the final.

Tournament Format

The Championship League event sees 25 professionals take part, with players earning prize money for every frame won. Matches are best of 5 frames, and the league is played from January to March 2019.
The competition runs over eight groups, each consisting of seven players. From each group the top four qualify for a play-off, and the winners of the first seven play-offs qualify for the winners group. The bottom two players of each group are eliminated and the remaining four move to the next group, where they are joined by three more players until the seventh group. The winners play in the final group, and the winner of the Winners' Group play-off takes the title and a place at the 2019 Champion of Champions.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for the 2019 Championship League is shown below.
;Group 1–7
;Winners' Group
Group 1 was played on 1 and 2 January 2019. Neil Robertson was the first player to qualify for the Winners' Group, recording his 600th career century in the round-robin match against Anthony Hamilton.

Matches

Play-offs

Group 2

Group 2 was played on 3 and 4 January 2019. Jack Lisowski was the second player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

Play-offs

Group 3

Group 3 was played on 7 and 8 January 2019. Judd Trump was the third player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

Play-offs

Group 4

Group 4 was played on 9 and 10 January 2019. Stuart Bingham was the fourth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

Play-offs

Group 5

Group 5 was played on 21 and 22 January 2019. Mark Selby was the fifth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

;Note
Due to illness, Luca Brecel withdrew from the tournament prior to group 5 play. He was replaced in the group by David Gilbert.

Table

Play-offs

Group 6

Group 6 was played on 23 and 24 January 2019. Martin Gould was the sixth player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

Play-offs

Group 7

Group 7 was played on 11 and 12 March 2019. John Higgins was the seventh and final player to qualify for the Winners' Group.

Matches

;Note
David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins withdrew from the tournament prior to group 7 play. They were replaced by Tom Ford and Noppon Saengkham.

Table

Play-offs

Winners' Group

The Winners' Group was played on 13 and 14 March 2019. Martin Gould won his second Championship League title, beating Jack Lisowski 3–1 in the final. During the round robin matches, John Higgins made his 750th career century break, and Judd Trump made his 600th.

Matches

Play-offs

Century breaks

Total: 104
113, 113, 110, 109, 107, 103, 102, 100 Mark Selby
110, 109, 105, 105, 104, 103 Judd Trump
Bold: highest break in the indicated group.

Winnings

Green: won the group. Bold: highest break in the group. All prize money in GBP.
Parenthesis: World rankings prior to tournament start, 1 January 2019.
Notes
Due to illness, Luca Brecel withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 5 play.
Barry Hawkins and David Gilbert withdrew from the tournament prior to Group 7 play.