Championship League Snooker: Five things we learned from the latest edition

The Championship League opened the snooker season on 28 June and it finally came to a close on 29 July with Luca Brecel crowned the first ranking event winner of the campaign.

Let’s be clear, this is nobody’s favourite tournament, even the Bullet wouldn’t be putting it in his top five events as he carries the trophy back to Belgium.

Very short-format matches, over a quite incredibly long time, behind closed doors and with many players rusty after their summer break.

The Crucible it ain’t, but that’s enough of the negatives because despite all that there are things to take away from the Championship League.

Of course the biggest names do not take it as seriously as when they head to Sheffield of York, or even Milton Keynes or Brentwood, but over a month-long ranking event plenty has cropped up.

We have seen 106 centuries over the tournament as players warmed up to the task and having played 10 matches to lift the trophy, Brecel deserves a lot of credit for emerging from a high quality field.

Brecel is announcing himself as a regular contender at the top of the sport both with his words and with his cue.

After winning his first group, the 27-year-old made it clear he was expecting to do well and we should all get ready to see him win a lot more matches.

‘I practiced a lot during the summer, playing some really good stuff in practice so it’s not a surprise, but it’s always nice to do it on the match table,’ said Brecel.

‘I feel like I’m playing a lot better than last season so hopefully it’s going to be a good season again.

‘I don’t have many points to defend this season so the only way is up. If I can get some good results like last season, I could finish maybe top four by the end of the season, so a lot to play for.’

It is a huge