The 2023 Snooker World Championship is about to begin. From April 15, we’ll see 32 of the world’s best snooker players play 30 matches over 16 days until one is crowned champion and takes home the £500,000 prize money. Below, we’ll explain how the World Snooker Championship works and let you know how to stream every moment of the action live from anywhere in the world.
It’s important to note that we’ll only be recommending official sources. While there are often unauthorized live streams for major sporting events, these come with significant disadvantages. For instance, the video could be laggy or low-resolution. Additionally, these streams are prone to being taken offline for copyright violation and as such, there’s no guarantee you’ll even see who wins a given match. It’s actually pretty easy to watch the 2023 Snooker World Championship anyway so there’s no need to resort to unlicensed streams.
To watch the Snooker World Championship on your home services while traveling outside of the UK, you’ll need to use a VPN
How to watch World Snooker Championship abroad with a VPN
Never used a VPN before? Don’t worry; it’s actually quite easy to bypass regional blocking and stream the Snooker World Championship online. Simply follow the steps below.
Here’s how to watch the World Snooker Championship online from anywhere:
- Start by signing up for a suitable VPN service. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and ExpressVPN are two strong alternatives.
- Next, download and install the appropriate app for your device.
- Decide which of the services below you’d like to unblock.
- Connect to one of your VPN’s servers in the required country. For example, you’d use a British server to unblock BBC iPlayer or a Canadian server for DAZN Canada.
- Try playing a video on your chosen service. It should start right away but if it doesn’t, clear your browser’s cookies and cache, then reload the page.
2023 World Championship Snooker games will be streamed live, so it’s important to make sure your VPN works (with the steps above) before they actually begin. This way, you’ll have plenty of time to get help from your VPN’s customer support team if anything goes wrong, and might not have to miss the beginning of the match.
How to stream the Snooker World Championship on UK TV
You can watch every match of the 2023 Snooker World Championship live on Discovery+. Note that you’ll need the Entertainment & Sport plan, which costs £6.99 per month and doesn’t include a free trial.
Additionally, British law requires you to have a TV license to watch anything at the same time that it’s shown on TV. You won’t, however, need a license if you only watch the replays that will be uploaded shortly after each match finishes.
This service is geo-blocked and hsa different libraries for different countries. If you’re abroad (outside the UK) you can still watch the matches by connecting to a VPN. We recommend NordVPN. Plans come with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can receive a full refund after the last match if you don’t want to keep it.
Where else can I watch the Snooker World Championship online?
You can live stream this year’s Snooker World Championship from almost anywhere in the world. Take a look below to find out which networks are showing the tournament in your country:
US and Canada
US and Canadian snooker fans can watch all the action (including qualification matches) live on DAZN. It costs $24.99(USD or CAD) to sign up although there’s no free trial available. DAZN is geo-restricted and these matches are only available as part of its American and Canadian content libraries. To watch from abroad, you’ll have to connect to one of your VPN’s Canadian or American servers.
Europe
Eurosport will broadcast all of the Snooker World Championship and its qualifiers via Discovery+. This is available to audiences across more than a dozen European countries including France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Prices vary by location, but you can expect to pay around €6.99 for a monthly Entertainment & Sport pass.
There’s no free trial, unfortunately, and you should note that unless you cancel, this subscription will automatically renew each month. This service is only available in Europe, but you can still access it abroad using a VPN.
Other locations
If no network is showing the matches where you live, you might still be able to watch online. In previous years, the Snooker World Championship was also streamed live on Facebook, allowing snooker fans in the US to watch every game for free. There’s no guarantee that this year’s event will be broadcast in this way, so we recommend checking the World Snooker Facebook page nearer the time to find out one way or the other.
How does the Snooker World Championship work?
This tournament actually has quite a simple format. The top 16 players in the world automatically qualify, and a further 16 earn their place by winning a series of qualification matches.
As the World Championship goes on, it becomes progressively more difficult to win. In round one, a player has to win 10 frames. In round two, this increases to 13, and in the semi-finals, 17. The final match takes place over 35 frames, meaning the first player to win 18 takes home £500,000 in prize money. Of course, if you’re good enough to qualify for this competition, you won’t leave empty-handed. There’s a total of £2,395,000 available and players are awarded £20,000 just for reaching the final 32.
Who is favorite to win the 2023 World Snooker Championship?
Unsurprisingly, Ronnie O’Sullivan is the favorite to win. He’s taken the championship seven times previously, and shows no signs of stopping. That said, fans are backing Judd Trump pretty strongly too, with Mark Selby being a bit more of a dark horse at 6/1 odds.
