The first group of this season Invitational CLS concluded yesterday and was won by Hossein Vafaei.

Here is the report by WST:

PERSIAN PRINCE BOOKS PLACE IN WINNERS’ GROUP

Hossein Vafaei beat Jak Jones 3-1 in the final of Group One of the 2025 BetVictor Championship League Snooker Invitational, to earn a place in the Winners’ Group.

Results / Tables and fixtures

Iran’s Vafaei will return to Leicester alongside six other players in February for the Winners’ Group, where the ultimate victor will earn the Championship League Snooker title and a place in the 2025 Champion of Champions. 

Today’s group stage finished with Vafaei, Pang Junxu and Ryan Day all with four wins out of six, followed by Jones who scored three wins to secure a semi-final spot. Vafaei saw off Day 3-1 in the semis with a top break of 129, while Jones beat Pang by the same scoreline. 

A run of 117 gave Vafaei the opening frame of the final, then Crucible runner-up Jones levelled. World number 26 Vafaei regained the lead with a break of 77, then took the fourth on the colours to clinch the result.

Group two gets underway on Monday with top 16 stars Ali Carter and Si Jiahui joining the action.

Broadcast Information
Fans can watch the action unfold globally, with comprehensive live coverage available on two tables throughout the tournament. Table One will be streamed live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel and available to UK viewers as well as on Rigour in China and Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Iceland. Table Two will be streamed live on the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel, accessible to fans worldwide.

All detailed results are available on snooker.org, and, unlike the link in the above article, the link to snooker.org will remain valid over time…

Now about this “broadcast information” … the “comprehensive coverage” means this: table one, the table where the highest ranked player in the group plays most their matches, and the groups finals are played, is ONLY available for free to UK users. The other ones have to pay¹ . Viaplay isn’t cheap and the only alternative is to use a vpn. That isn’t free either and you have to know how to set it up.

This, once again demonstrated the UK-centric nature of the organisation of the sport, as well as the “UK-centric mentally” still all too common in Britain.

Here is another blatant example: Radzi wrote yesterday on twitter that moving the World Championship “abroad” would “tarnish” the event. That’s baffling in more ways than one! Does he realise that there are only about 68.5 millions inhabitants in the UK, for over 8 billions in the world? Does he realise that for the best of 8 billions people the UK IS “abroad”. Does he realise that the Crucible can only host about 900 spectators? Is the football World Cup tarnished by the fact that it travels around the World and is played in several location simultaneously in huge stadiums? Is the Tennis ATP Finals tarnished because it moves around and is played in huge venues? Quite the opposite isn’t it? Tradition is OK until it becomes a major hurdle to development². The Crucible is a fantastic venue – albeit too small for the demand – when the World Championship reaches the one table setup. Before that it’s too small, too cramped, the cameramen on stage don’t have space, the players don’t have space to move around the table and have to vacate their dressing rooms after each session, access to practice tables is limited, catering is limited… The one table setup that’s three matches … three out of the hundred and forty three that the full World Championship comprises. Let that sink … and think again!

1. I’m not sure about rigour ↩︎
2. With that “tradition mentality”, refusing changes because “this is what we always did”, we would still be living in the caves, and most children would still die in infancy. ↩︎