There is less than a week left until the start of the 2025 World Snooker Championship, so let’s look at the seeds in the main draw this year.
Each of the seeds will have aspirations of going all the way to glory in what is the 49th edition at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
On Saturday, we began this mini four-part series with those who are ranked from 13th to 16th before looking at the seeds from 9th to 12th in the draw.
Yesterday, we turned our attention to the seeds from 5th down to 8th, but today it’s all about the top four and the favourites for the World Snooker Championship title this year.
4th Seed: Mark Selby
With his pedigree at the Crucible Theatre and his recent consistency with reaching the business end of events, Mark Selby is a genuine threat in Sheffield again this year.
The 41 year-old has enjoyed a very strong season during which he has won two ranking titles and the invitational version of Championship League Snooker.
Selby looked set to add the prestigious Tour Championship crown a couple of weeks ago but succumbed to a superb fight back from John Higgins in a close final.
Still, the Leicester man heads to the campaign finale with confidence high.
Across the last decade or so, Selby has been the most consistent World Championship performer at the Crucible Theatre.
Since 2014, he has won the title on four times, reached another final, and been beaten in the first round only twice.
He is in the same section of the World Snooker Championship draw as Ronnie O’Sullivan, which could lead to a blockbuster quarter-final tie if they both can make it that far – and if the Rocket decides to play, of course.
World Championship best: Champion (2014, 2016, 2017, 2021)
Best result in 2024/25: Champion (British Open, Championship League Snooker, Welsh Open)
Form guide: 5/5
3rd Seed: John Higgins
John Higgins will turn 50 next month, but the Scot is back playing some of the best snooker of his entire career and is one of the top four World Snooker Championship seeds again.
Winning the World Open at the beginning of March and ending a four-year drought in ranking events has reinvigorated his confidence to compete at the highest level.
Higgins probably would have been content enough with that, but there was the icing on the cake with his success at the Tour Championship in Manchester.
A fifth world title would provide the cherry on top, and if he can sustain his form, there’s no doubting the fact he’ll be a tough opponent to beat.
Higgins, an eight-time finalist and four-time winner in Sheffield, hasn’t lost in the first round since 2014 and an early exit in 2025 would be a surprise.
The Wizard of Wishaw could meet fellow legend Mark Williams in the last eight, although Barry Hawkins and Xiao Guodong are also in the same bracket.
World Championship best: Champion (1998, 2007, 2009, 2011)
Best result in 2024/25: Champion (World Open, Tour Championship)
Form guide: 5/5
2nd Seed: Judd Trump
Once again, Judd Trump will head to a World Snooker Championship with an enormous weight of expectation on his shoulders.
All in all, Trump has had another excellent season with three prestigious pieces of silverware to show for his efforts.
The Englishman began the term strongly with success in the Shanghai Masters, then followed it up with victory in the lucrative Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
A triumph at the UK Championship subsequently silenced some of the doubters who constantly question his record at the Triple Crown events.
But for all that, Trump’s 2025 so far has been a bit of a disappointment by his high standards.
He was on the wrong end of a deciding frame thriller in last month’s Players Championship final – one of three occasions this season where he has been beaten in finals by Kyren Wilson – and he has suffered some earlier-than-expected defeats in other recent tournaments as well.
The 35 year-old additionally has the distraction of his pursuit of the century of centuries milestone, and a £100,000 bonus that would be pocketed should he proceed to reach the landmark in Sheffield.
Trump will be desperate to add to his sole World Championship title from 2019, but whether he will be able to reproduce his highest level when it matters the most remains somewhat uncertain.
World Championship best: Champion (2019)
Best result in 2024/25: Champion (Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, UK Championship)
Form guide: 4.5/5
1st Seed: Kyren Wilson
Winning four ranking events in any season would be impressive, but to do it during his year as world champion has been even more impressive.
Kyren Wilson returns to Sheffield with confidence high following what has been the best campaign of his career.
Wilson beat rival Judd Trump to lift the Xi’an Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open, and Players Championship titles.
The Kettering cueist also emerged with the trophy at the German Masters a few short weeks after reaching the final of the Masters in London.
Last year, Wilson took advantage of a kind draw to win a maiden world title, but in 2025 there is a sense that he could overcome any challenge put in front of him.
That has led some to believe that the 33 year-old is primed to become the player who can break the Curse of the Crucible, where no first-time champion has returned to successfully defend the crown.
Wilson has even hyped up his own chances of ending the hoodoo, but the snooker gods are unforgiving, and the attention that the story would garner the longer he’s in the tournament may become too overwhelming.
World Championship best: Champion (2024)
Best result in 2024/25: Champion (Xi’an Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open, German Masters, Players Championship)
Form guide: 5/5
Featured photo credit: WST
