The World Snooker Tour has revealed the sport will be making its professional comeback from June 1 with a new event – and snooker’s top stars are set for action.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no major event in the snooker calendar has taken place since March meaning a number of events, including the World Championship, have had to be postponed.

But from June 1 – eights days from today (May 24) – snooker will be making its comeback with a new Championship League event, it has been announced.

The new tournament will be played between June 1 and June 11 and will be shown live on ITV with a top prize of £30,000.

It will be held at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes with strict rules on social distancing, COVID testing and hygiene in place, in line with government guidelines. The venue has been selected as it has an on-site accommodation meaning no players, officials or staff will need to leave the venue once they have entered.

Players taking part include crowd favourites Ronnie O’Sullivan, world champion and current number one in the world Judd Trump and world number 2 Neil Robertson.

Championship League will be split into three phases, with all matches during all stages played as the best-of-four frames. Play will begin at 3pm each day, running continuously until both groups are complete, with the exception of Friday, June 5th when play will begin at 4pm.

Phase 1 – Group matches. From June 1st to 8th will feature 16 groups of four players, with two groups played each day across two tables. The player who tops each group table will progress to Phase Two. Players will be awarded three points for a win and one point for a drawn match.

Phase 2 – Group winners. From June 9th to 10th sees the 16 group winners split into four further groups of four, with two groups per day also played over two tables.

Phase 3 – Tournament Finals. From June 11th will see the four Phase Two winners battle it out over one final group, played on one table, to determine the Championship League winner.

The tournament will not be a ranking event.

So here is the draw of the Phase 1 groups and the date the group matches will be played.

Monday June 1st
Group 2
Judd Trump
Daniel Wells
Elliot Slessor
David Grace

Group 13
David Gilbert
Stuart Carrington
Jak Jones
Jackson Page

Tuesday June 2nd
Group 9
Jack Lisowski
Luca Brecel
Robbie Williams
Oliver Lines

Group 3
Michael Holt
Mark Davis
Mark Joyce
Louis Heathcote

Wednesday June 3rd
Group 12
Kyren Wilson
Ryan Day
Alfie Burden
Chen Feilong

Group 4
Joe Perry
Mark King
Sam Baird
Harvey Chandler

Thursday June 4th
Group 5
Mark Selby
Liang Wenbo
Joe O’Connor
Lee Walker

Group 14
Gary Wilson
Matthew Stevens
John Astley
Mitchell Mann

Friday June 5th
Group 10
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Chris Wakelin
Michael Georgiou
Kishan Hirani

Group 15
Tom Ford
Robert Milkins
Mike Dunn
Ian Burns

Saturday June 6th
Group 1
Stuart Bingham
Ricky Walden
Jordan Brown
Jamie Clarke

Group 8
Jimmy Robertson
Ben Woollaston
Liam Highfield
Alex Ursenbacher

Sunday June 7th
Group 16
Neil Robertson
Kurt Maflin
Ken Doherty
Ashley Carty

Group 7
Barry Hawkins
Anthony McGill
Craig Steadman
Hammad Miah

Monday June 8th
Group 11
Mark Allen
Martin O’Donnell
Michael White
Nigel Bond

Group 6
Ali Carter
Matt Selt
Sam Craigie
Dominic Dale