Alfie Burden in Champion of Champions field with Ronnie O'Sullivan not included in star-studded 16-player line-up
Updated 30/10/2025 at 20:15 GMT
Alfie Burden has been confirmed as the final participant in the 2025 Champion of Champions, while Ronnie O'Sullivan was not included. There was some controversy when it was announced that the player with the highest ranking who had not won a tournament would complete the 16-player field, but it has now been confirmed that World Seniors champion, Burden will be taking part in Leicester in November.
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The lineup for the 2025 Champion of Champions has been confirmed, with Alfie Burden taking up the final place in the 16-player field.
As the title of the tournament indicates, it consists of players who have won events over the course of the previous 12 months.
Jack Lisowski’s victory at the Northern Ireland Open - his maiden career title - saw him become the 15th player in the field.
Event organisers announced at the time that the 16th player in the field would be taken up by the person ranked highest in the world who had not won a trophy over the past 12 months.
At the time of the announcement, seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was the player in line to take up the spot in the field at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
However, it was announced on Thursday that Burden would take up the 16th place in the field as the winner of the World Seniors Championship.
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Taking to social media after his place in the tournament had been confirmed, Burden said: "I’d like to thank the Players Board, Ken [Doherty], Neil [Robertson], Mark [Davis] and Ben [Woollaston]. Also I’d like to thank Jason Ferguson and particularly Jason Francis for their support over the last few days.
"I also want to thank Matchroom for giving me this opportunity and I’m looking forward to playing."
The Champion of Champions takes place from November 10-16, and follows on the heels of the International Championship in China.
Lisowski will be the man heading to Leicester full of confidence after his win over Judd Trump in the final in Belfast.
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Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was impressed with how Lisowski got the job done against Trump, and feels he could go on a run of success.
"Jack has always been one of my favourite players to watch with his talent, cue action and touch," Hendry said on the Snooker Club podcast. "He is an unbelievably beautiful snooker player to watch.
"He has always had that monkey on his back of not winning a title and he has probably been sick of people like us going on about it. He has always taken that with grace and never really hit out at people.
"I have never heard anyone have a bad word to say about him and that's why it's such a popular result. He did it the hard way, beating Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson and Judd Trump, three of the best in the world.
"He is never going to have the granite safety game of a Mark Selby or Mark Allen but I don't think he needs that because he has got that flair, that special X factor which can rise above tactical play because he can play outrageous shots.
"That's what he has to focus on for the rest of his career, that supreme talent. Now he's got that one win, who knows what can happen?"
Champion of Champions field
- Mark Williams
- Zhao Xintong
- Judd Trump
- Shaun Murphy
- Neil Robertson
- Mark Allen
- Kyren Wilson
- John Higgins
- Xiao Guodong
- Mark Selby
- Lei Peifan
- Stephen Maguire
- Bai Yulu
- Tom Ford
- Alfie Burden
- Jack Lisowski
- - -
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