When do O'Sullivan, Wilson and Murphy return to action at Championship League?

The first ranking event of the new 2024/25 snooker season breaks off in Leicester on Monday with several leading names involved in the action.

Seven-time Crucible winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, world champion Kyren Wilson, defending champion Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams and John Higgins have all committed to the competition which gets under way on Monday at the city’s Mattioli Arena and runs until Wednesday, July 3.

2010 world champion Neil Robertson has the honour of opening the new season at midday on Monday in Group 21 that includes Jamie Clarke, Ka Wai Cheung and Zachary Richardson.

Kyren Wilson plays his first ranking event as world champion since his 18-14 Crucible final win over Jak Jones last month on Thursday, June 20, in Group 1 that also contains Scott Donaldson, Baipat Siripaporn and Daniel Wormersley.

Meanwhile, Williams will face David Grace, women’s world champion Bai Yulu and Connor Benzey on the second day of play on Tuesday, June 11.

But world No. 1 Mark Allen and former Crucible champions Judd Trump, Luca Brecel and Mark Selby have all opted to miss the event.

Stage one consists of 32 groups of four players before the 32 group winners split into eight further groups.

The eight group winners contest a further two groups with the winners meeting in the final.

£33,000 is on the table for the winner plus a spot in the Champion of Champions later in the year which is worth another £12,500 for qualifying.