SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS: NEW RANKING EVENT ANNOUNCED!
INAUGURAL SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS AND WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIP TO TAKE PLACE IN RIYADH AND JEDDAH AS PART OF MAJOR 10-YEAR DEAL
• Snooker’s ‘fourth Major’, with over £2m prize fund, to launch in Riyadh in August • ‘Crown Jewel’ World Pool Championship will take place in Jeddah this June • Exciting legacy commitment with Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation sees strong focus on developing both sports in the region over next decade
The world’s best snooker and Nineball pool players will this year descend upon Saudi Arabia to launch a 10-year deal that will bring two major annual sporting events to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and transform Billiards in the Middle East.
The World Snooker Tour and World Nineball Tour – in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation and the Ministry of Sport for Saudi Arabia – confirmed today that a historic, decade-long association will start this summer, with events in both Riyadh and Jeddah.
It begins this June (3rd-8th), when the 2024 World Pool Championship – the crown jewel of the World Nineball Tour – takes place at the Green Halls in Jeddah.
A record World Nineball Tour prize fund of $1,000,000 will be contested by the planet’s premier pool cueists, including reigning world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, five-time US Open champion and 2022 world champion Shane Van Boening and 2018 world champion Joshua Filler.
Then, in August (31st-September 7th) in Riyadh, the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – spearheaded by the world’s leading players – takes place and officially becomes the sport’s ‘fourth major’ alongside the traditional Triple Crown events. A prize pot of over £2million will be at stake in what is the second richest event on the prestigious World Snooker Tour schedule in 2024.
The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters will be a world ranking event open to all 128 tour players, plus six local wild cards from the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation.
HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport, and President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee Sports said: “Saudi Arabia is an ever-emerging home to all sports and we’re excited by the opportunity to add new world-class events in snooker and Nineball pool to our growing year-round calendar. Hosting global events is all part of our strategy to grow all sports and to inspire our people to participate by giving them the chance to enjoy live sporting action. We are a young country with a young population and the approach is working. Since 2018 we’ve hosted over 100 international sports events and during that time sports participation has more than tripled.”
Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation, the country has become a welcoming host for some of the biggest global sports events for both male and female athletes including football, motorsports, tennis, equestrian, esports and golf, attended by over 2.6 million sports fans.
Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn said: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has forged a reputation for growth and creating new opportunities for sports to grow in a new market to new fans. The country has hosted some of the world’s premier sporting events in recent years, welcoming visitors from all over to experience its passion for sport and unique culture. The addition of both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and World Pool Championship over the next decade further enhances that as it heralds an exciting chapter for Snooker and Nineball pool. We have seen the incredible impact Boxing has had in this region. Now, I believe we will see Billiards cement its legacy here too, creating incredible opportunities and competition for the finest players on the planet.”
Saudi Arabia Billiard & Snooker Federation President, Dr. Nasser Saab Al-Shammari, added: “The introduction of two brand new global events in Saudi Arabia with long-term deals in place is absolute game changing moment for our sports. We have a flourishing community but until now opportunities were limited expose to the game’s elite.
“This will undoubtedly accelerate our progress and development. We look forward to warmly welcoming the very best snooker and Nineball pool players in the world to the Kingdom and taking their sports into the heart of our communities, while also giving emerging young Saudi players the chance to compete at this level for the first time with a ‘home’ event.”
“Both events will be underpinned by community engagement to introduce new players to the sport and will open up new talent pathways over the decade. Clinics for coaches, for referees and player visits will guarantee a massive boost and a bright future for both snooker and pool in Saudi Arabia.”
Global television syndication will ensure fans around the world will get to enjoy both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters and the World Pool Championship.
Both sports have also pledged a strong focus and commitment to grow and develop the game in the region in tandem with the Saudi Arabian Billiard and Snooker Federation, along with offering wild card places to burgeoning, local talent to take part in the annual world-class competitions.
Further details in relation to both ground-breaking events will be released in due course separately by the World Snooker Tour and the World Nineball Tour.
This snooker Masters is clearly a different event to the invitational that will take place in March this year. It’s “open” to the 128 players, but it’s unclear if all 128 will play at the venue or if, once again, “qualifiers” will be played in the UK.
There is no doubt that the prize money is very attractive and I’m not expecting the players to boycott it.
BUT … but …
Saudi Arabia has one of the worst records when it comes to human rights and women’s rights.
This is a country where one can be imprisoned or even executed for peacefully protesting or peacefully expressing opinions that go against what the authoritarian regime and the religious authorities see as appropriate. Children as young as 15 years old have been arrested and imprisoned. You might want to read this report by Amnesty International and this one as well
This is a country where women are not considered “adults”, they are always under the control of a male legal “guardian”. Although there been some recent reforms, women’s rights are still very restricted under the guardianship system. You might want to read this piece by Amnesty International.
I have no doubts that the events will be well organised, and that the players will be well looked after and spoiled. In recent years, organising major sporting events have been a “means” for the Saudi authorities to improve their “image” and attract lucrative investments. That’s the very nature of sports-washing. I’m extremely disappointed and saddened to see snooker heading this way, although I’m not surprised. “Making money” as always been what the Hearn clan, and hence Matchroom, are about. There is nothing wrong in trying to make good money … I just wish it was done with at least some kind of moral compass. 😔
And … to brand this event “officially the fourth major” only adds insult to injury. 😡
4 thoughts on “Saudi Arabia Snooker and Nine Ball Pool Announcements … and what I think of it.”
I’m very, very much disappointed with the fact that straight away call it ‘the fourth major’.
That is not something you can decide overnight and especially it doesn’t make sense for a new event.
Every sport has their sort of ‘majors’ and the reason why they are majors is because they are packed with a long history and/or special difficulty that makes them stand out among others.
Think of the grand slams in tennis or ‘the five monuments’ in cycling. how would people react if next year there would be a ‘fifth grand slam’ tennis in Saudi Arabia straight out of nowhere? It sounds completely ridiculous.
The reason why you have ‘five cycling monuments’ is because each of them has very specific features that other races don’t have (or tol a much lesser extent). For example Paris-Roubaix is a race of 260 km of which ~ 55 km are over cobble stones, all in the last 140 km of the race. This makes it an incredibly hard race and makes it so unique amongst others. This combined with a long tradition that goes back to the early 1900s. there would be absolutely no arguments to suddenly organise a new race in Saudia Arabia (also counts for other places by the way) and call this a sixth monument.
This is something that needs to grow over time and need to have a profound basis on why it could be a major. As potential fourth snooker majors I would first think of for example the Champion of Champions or the Tour Championship. Because the former is a tournament to which ‘only tournament winners from the last season’ are allowed to play kn, combined with the winner of the seniors and women championships etc. So it has a natural prestige to it if you can win that one as you are then indeed, the champion of all champions.
or the Tour championship. It’s the ultimate tournament for only the best players if the current season, also giving it a natural prestige element to it if you can claim that you won the tournament with only the very current best players.
Why would this ‘regular ranking tournament’ out of nowhere be a fourth major? Just because it has high prize money? Well, then why not consider one of the tournaments in China as a major first? At least they have already more history to it and the sport is very popular there instead of in the dessert where there is, as Monique already pointed out very well, a lot of violation of human/womens rights.
Totally beyond my understanding.
So what shall they do if one of the women qualifies and goes there to play?
Of course this is all very sad and abhorrent.
They will most certainly allow her to play. They already said that female referees would officiate in their normal attire. It’s all part of trying to give a positive image and a smoke screen over what the local women go through.
Sad, but sadly, not surprising. The Saudis have already ruined golf, and I guess snooker is next on the list. It’s not hard to imagine them taking over the entire snooker tour, in some way or another…
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I’m very, very much disappointed with the fact that straight away call it ‘the fourth major’.
That is not something you can decide overnight and especially it doesn’t make sense for a new event.
Every sport has their sort of ‘majors’ and the reason why they are majors is because they are packed with a long history and/or special difficulty that makes them stand out among others.
Think of the grand slams in tennis or ‘the five monuments’ in cycling.
how would people react if next year there would be a ‘fifth grand slam’ tennis in Saudi Arabia straight out of nowhere? It sounds completely ridiculous.
The reason why you have ‘five cycling monuments’ is because each of them has very specific features that other races don’t have (or tol a much lesser extent). For example Paris-Roubaix is a race of 260 km of which ~ 55 km are over cobble stones, all in the last 140 km of the race. This makes it an incredibly hard race and makes it so unique amongst others. This combined with a long tradition that goes back to the early 1900s.
there would be absolutely no arguments to suddenly organise a new race in Saudia Arabia (also counts for other places by the way) and call this a sixth monument.
This is something that needs to grow over time and need to have a profound basis on why it could be a major. As potential fourth snooker majors I would first think of for example the Champion of Champions or the Tour Championship. Because the former is a tournament to which ‘only tournament winners from the last season’ are allowed to play kn, combined with the winner of the seniors and women championships etc. So it has a natural prestige to it if you can win that one as you are then indeed, the champion of all champions.
or the Tour championship. It’s the ultimate tournament for only the best players if the current season, also giving it a natural prestige element to it if you can claim that you won the tournament with only the very current best players.
Why would this ‘regular ranking tournament’ out of nowhere be a fourth major? Just because it has high prize money? Well, then why not consider one of the tournaments in China as a major first? At least they have already more history to it and the sport is very popular there instead of in the dessert where there is, as Monique already pointed out very well, a lot of violation of human/womens rights.
Totally beyond my understanding.
So what shall they do if one of the women qualifies and goes there to play?
Of course this is all very sad and abhorrent.
They will most certainly allow her to play. They already said that female referees would officiate in their normal attire. It’s all part of trying to give a positive image and a smoke screen over what the local women go through.
Sad, but sadly, not surprising. The Saudis have already ruined golf, and I guess snooker is next on the list. It’s not hard to imagine them taking over the entire snooker tour, in some way or another…