On 20 December 2021, the Snooker Champions League Group 1 match kicked off at the Morningside Arena in Leicester. After the first matchday, Dort ranked first with a record of 4 total wins, basically locking in a single-loss stage place; Zhou Yuelong lost to Dortmund and Lisovsky successively, with a record of only 2 wins and 1 loss, temporarily in the elimination zone.
The Invitational Edition of the Champions League is broadcast exclusively by the China Sports zhibo.tv and requires the purchase of a membership to watch. The competition follows the classic format, with a total of 25 players participating, and the group stage is played in seven rounds, and the seven group promoters enter the winner's group together to determine the final champion. In the group stage, every seven people in a group, first a round of group round-robin, the group ranking 6th and 7th players will be eliminated, the top 4 players in the group will enter the single-elimination stage, the group champion competing in the single-loss stage will be among the winners, and the 5th and other three players who fail to win in the single-loss stage will form a new group with the three other newly recruited players.
The Group 1 match took the lead at Leicester Morningside Arena. After the first matchday, Dort defeated Forde, Zhou Yuelong, Lisovsky and Gary Wilson to top the table with a record of 4 wins, locking in a single-loss stage place in advance. Ryan Day played 200, and liang Wenbo and Lisovsky both achieved a record of 2 wins and 1 loss, ranking 2-4 respectively.
Zhou Yuelong and Gary Wilson each won only one game. Zhou Yuelong temporarily relegated to 6th place due to his small net wins, and was in the elimination zone, but Zhou Yuelong had a slight advantage of one less game. Forde lost all three of the games he played, and only by winning all three of the next three games will there be some hope of qualifying.
Champions League, Group & Schedule
Panel 2 (22-23 December): Zhao Xintong, Lu Ning, J. Perry
Group 3 (3-4 January): M. Selby, M. Williams, S. Bingham
Group 4 (5-6 January): J. Trump, B. Hawkins, K. Wilson
Group 5 (7-8 January): M. Gould, A. Carter, D. Gilbert
Group 6 (17-18 January): Yan Bingtao, Ding Junhui, Wharton
Group 7 (31-1 January): R. O'Sullivan, J. Higgins, N. Robertson