World Snooker Championship: Eurosport cues up Europe-wide Crucible coverage

Eurosport is set to kick-start its coverage of the World Snooker Championships by showing every round – including qualifying - from 21 July across Europe in more than 50 markets.

The main draw of snooker’s biggest event, hosted from the Crucible by Colin Murray with analysis from legend Jimmy White, will also be broadcast live from 31 July across Eurosport channels and the Eurosport App alongside on-demand highlights from every match.

With a limited number of spectators permitted, Eurosport will bring fans closer to the action with the best experts and innovative new formats as part of a full digital experience. Eurosport will continue to bring snooker fans unique analysis and insight to the biggest stories from the World Snooker Championships through its flagship snooker podcast The Break, with new episodes hosted by Eurosport’s Rachel Casey available to stream and download throughout the tournament.

Five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will be providing fans with unique short-form video content exclusively for Eurosport with new episodes of Ronnie’s Masterclass giving viewers insider ‘how-to’ tips on how to improve their own games. Fans will also be expertly guided through every shot of live play with Eurosport’s presenters and commentators featuring former professional players including 1986 world champion Joe Johnson and six-time World Championship finalist Jimmy White.

Jamie Steward, UK Senior Director of Production and Broadcast at Eurosport, said: “The drama of live world-class snooker doesn’t get any bigger than watching the best players go head-to-head under the lights of the Crucible. With fewer fans able to attend this year, there’s an even greater responsibility for us to take viewers closer to the action and we’re innovating how we use our experts and different formats to engage fans more deeply than ever before.

“Leveraging our ability to scale coverage to fans across Europe, combined with the best analysis and on-demand digital content, we’re diving deeper into the World Championships than ever before as part of a month of live snooker.”

Held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, England from 21-28 July, the qualifying rounds of the World Snooker Championships adopt a new format for 2020 with best-of-11 frames played out in rounds one to three, and round four consisting of best-of-19 frames deciders. Including the 16 seeded players eligible for the main draw, 128 players in total will contend the qualification process with the main draw of 32 beginning on 31 July, with the new world champion decided in the final on 16 August.

Last year, Judd Trump beat John Higgins by 18 frames to 9 at the Crucible to claim his maiden World Championship title, becoming one of just 11 players to complete snooker’s Triple Crown. He will begin his title defence from 10am on Friday 31 July against one of the 16 qualifiers in a bid to claim a potential £555,000 prize pot.

Eurosport’s 2020 World Snooker Championships broadcast forms part of its all-year-round snooker coverage secured through an agreement with World Snooker to show every major tournament, including the Home Nations Series, Masters and the World Snooker Championships, until 2026. Eurosport also recently extended its coverage of live world-class snooker by securing the broadcast rights to snooker’s Championship League, which was shown exclusively across Europe* at the beginning of June.