Champions Cup (snooker)

Champions Cup

Tournament information
Venue	Brighton Centre
Location	Brighton
Country	England
Established	1995
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Non-Ranking event
Final Year	2001
Final champion(s)	John Higgins

The Champions Cup was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament held in England that ran for eight seasons starting in the 1994/1995 season and was originally known as the Charity Challenge.

History

The tournament was originally called the Charity Challenge. The event was unique by having the players compete for charity, with the prize money being donated to their respective causes. The event started in the 1994/1995 season and was contested by a 16 man field, but was reduced to an 8 man field by the 1996/1997 season. The event is most notable for Stephen Hendry compiling a maximum break in the deciding frame of the 1997 final against Ronnie O'Sullivan. It is the only time a maximum break has ever been made in the deciding frame of a final in professional competition.^[1]

After five seasons the charity aspect was dropped and replaced with a new format. The event was re-branded the Champions Cup and was contested by the players, who won major tournaments in the previous season. In its inaugural year it adopted a “winner takes all” format with a £175,000 prize going to the winner, with the other contestants receiving nothing. The winner's prize was the second highest after the World Championship. In subsequent years the event had a more conventional prize money schedule.^[1]

The tournament was sponsored by Liverpool Victoria for all but the last two events. In 2000 the event was sponsored by TVN and there was no sponsor in 2001. The event was broadcast on ITV, but was dropped from the calendar after the 2001 event due to ITV discontinuing its snooker coverage.^[1]

Winners

^[1]

Year	Winner	Opponent	Final score	Season
Charity Challenge
1995	Stephen Hendry	Dennis Taylor	9–1	1994/1995
1996	Ronnie O'Sullivan	John Higgins	9–6	1995/1996
1997	Stephen Hendry	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–8	1996/1997
1998	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–8	1997/1998
1999	John Higgins	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–4	1998/1999
Champions Cup
1999	Stephen Hendry	Mark Williams	7–5	1999/2000
2000	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Mark Williams	7–5	2000/2001
2001	John Higgins	Mark Williams	7–4	2001/2002

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Turner, Chris (2008). "Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge/Champions Sup". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/champcup.html. Retrieved 10 November 2010.