2025/26 Snooker Season Preview and Predictions
Lewis Watson 
With the Championship League now in the rear view mirror — won impressively by Stephen Maguire, who was unfancied by sports betting sites — we’re heading towards the Shanghai Masters on Monday in what is considered by many as the showpiece start to the snooker season.
The week-long event will see some of the very best in the world scrap it out with some invitees and wildcard entries, and it should give us an opening view of who has the form to challenge on the green baize this season.
At the top of the rankings sits Judd Trump, with a sizeable gulf separating him from Kyren Wilson in second. Mark Williams, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan — known as the Class of ‘92 — remarkably sit third to fifth, ahead of the Chinese superstar Ding Junhui who is returning to form.
Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Barry Hawkins and Mark Allen make up the rest of the top ten, but this 2025/26 season is expected to see a lot of movement in these standings — just maybe not at the very top…
So ahead of the Shanghai Masters on Monday, Free Bets snooker expert Lewis Watson has taken a look at some of the big names expected to kick on this season, and some of the underdogs looking to break through.
Big Names
Judd Trump
Big money wins for Judd Trump across last season make his position at the top of the rankings pretty hard to catch coming into this season — and that’s before we even start discussing his imperious form.
Trump has been the standout player on the tour and the most consistent for close to a decade now, and last year’s three title wins and three runner-up finishes really underlined that in thick, black ink.
With Ronnie O’Sullivan’s future looking more and more unsure as each season ticks by, Trump will start every tournament he enters as a favourite in the snooker betting markets, and it’s hard to argue against it.
He has 30 ranking titles to his name, but the solitary World Championship from 2019 will no doubt be playing on his mind.
Zhao Xintong
Zhao Xintong sits just outside the top ten in the rankings, but is expected to make a big splash in the 2025/26 season.
The 28-year-old bagged the World Championship in April after years off the baize serving a ban, and looks like he is aiming to make up for lost time in terms of titles.
He’s already got a UK Championship and German Masters in his trophy cabinet from the 2021/22 season and the “Cyclone” will surely add to his rankings title tally over the next twelve months.
His performance at the Crucible this spring was of a man twice his experience, so the confidence he will take into the new season will be priceless.
Kyren Wilson
After winning his maiden World Championship in 2024, Kyren Wilson had a very good follow-up season.
Wins in Xi’an, the Northern Ireland Open, German Masters and Players Championship solidified his spot at number two in the rankings, and his multiple final outings against Judd Trump developed a competitive rivalry between the two.
The infamous “Crucible Curse” saw him knocked out in the first round of his defence in Sheffield, but other than that the “Warrior” has performed well in most of the big one over the past twelve months.
Wilson has his heart set on becoming world number one, so will have to win a bucket load of competitions this year in order to leapfrog Trump.
The Surprise Packages
Wu Yize
At just 21 years old, Wu Yize showed real maturity last year as he raced to two finals at the English and Scottish Opens.
Other impressive runs at the Snooker Shootout and German Masters highlighted the threat that Yize could be in the future, once he acclimatises to the routine of a year on tour.
Yize has flown up the rankings over the past twelve months, and if he is able to continue progressing at the rate he is, then a title will come his way over the 2025/26 season.
Si Jiahui
Si Jiahui is still living off that semi-final run at the 2023 World Championship.
The 23-year-old showed his attacking prowess on the baize during that run, and has since made two finals at the German Masters and Wuhan Open.
He’s up the 15th in the rankings and has the natural talent to go a lot higher; a title in one of the tournaments where seeds fall fast should be the big target for the man monikered “Pearl” this campaign.
The Shanghai Masters could prove a wonderful opportunity for him to put an early marker down as he kicks off his campaign against a wildcard opponent.
Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O’Sullivan could fall in line in the next rounds, but Jiahui has proven many times that he can mix it with the big guns.
Zak Surety
Zak Surety currently finds himself one place out of the top 64, but flashes of brilliance at April’s World Championship make us believe that he is more than capable of a quick climb this campaign.
The 33-year-old reached the World Open semi-final in the spring and then followed it up with four century breaks against Ding Junhui at the World Championship.
He would go on to lose that opening round match 10-7, but it would be remiss of us to ignore the warning signs that Surety could be on the verge of his best season.
