The 2019 Championship League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament, taking place from at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry (Group 1–6) and at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley (Group 7 and the Winners' Group), both in England. It was the 12th staging of the tournament.
David Gilbert made the historic 147th maximum break in his group 5 round robin match against Stephen Maguire. It was Gilbert's second professional maximum break (he achieved his first in the 2015 Championship League), and it was the sixth consecutive year that a maximum was made in the Championship League.
During the round robin matches, Neil Robertson recorded his 600th career century in Group 1, and Ding Junhui his 500th in Group 7. And during the Winners' Group round robin matches, John Higgins made his 750th career century break, and Judd Trump also recorded his 600th.
John Higgins was a two-time defending champion, having retained his 2017 title with a 3–2 victory against Zhou Yuelong in the 2018 final. However, Higgins lost 3–0 to Martin Gould in the semi-finals.
Martin Gould went on to win his second Championship League title, beating Jack Lisowski 3–1 in the final.
Tournament Format
The Championship League event sees 25 professionals (including substitutes; 28 players in 2019) take part, with players earning prize money for every frame won. Matches are best of 5 frames, and the league is played from January to March 2019.
The competition runs over eight groups, each consisting of seven players. From each group the top four qualify for a play-off, and the winners of the first seven play-offs qualify for the winners group. The bottom two players of each group are eliminated and the remaining four move to the next group, where they are joined by three more players until the seventh group. The winners play in the final group, and the winner of the Winners' Group play-off takes the title and a place at the 2019 Champion of Champions.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the 2019 Championship League is shown below.
Group 1–7
Winner: £3,000
Runner-up: £2,000
Semi-final: £1,000
Frame-win (league stage): £100
Frame-win (play-offs): £300
Highest break: £500
Winners' Group
Winner: £10,000
Runner-up: £5,000
Semi-final: £3,000
Frame-win (league stage): £200
Frame-win (play-offs): £300
Highest break: £1,000
Tournament total: £177,800
Group 1
Group 1 was played on 1 and 2 January 2019. Neil Robertson was the first player to qualify for the Winners' Group, recording his 600th career century in the round-robin match against Anthony Hamilton.
Matches
Neil Robertson 3–1 Jack Lisowski
Jimmy Robertson 0–3 Robert Milkins
Anthony Hamilton 3–2 Neil Robertson
Mark King 3–1 Ricky Walden
Jack Lisowski 1–3 Jimmy Robertson
Robert Milkins 2–3 Mark King
Ricky Walden 3–1 Anthony Hamilton
Neil Robertson 3–1 Jimmy Robertson
Jack Lisowski 3–2 Robert Milkins
Mark King 3–0 Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden 3–0 Robert Milkins
Jimmy Robertson 1–3 Anthony Hamilton
Neil Robertson 1–3 Ricky Walden
Jack Lisowski 3–1 Mark King
Jimmy Robertson 3–0 Ricky Walden
Robert Milkins 1–3 Anthony Hamilton
Neil Robertson 3–0 Mark King
Jack Lisowski 3–2 Anthony Hamilton
Jimmy Robertson 3–1 Mark King
Jack Lisowski 3–2 Ricky Walden
Neil Robertson 3–1 Robert Milkins
Table
Play-offs
Group 2
Group 2 was played on 3 and 4 January 2019. Jack Lisowski was the second player to qualify for the Winners' Group.