Ronnie O’Sullivan narrowly secured a spot in the Champion of Champions but has been rewarded with a very tough group in the blockbuster draw.

The tournament has a unique format as four ‘groups’ are played over four days at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

Each afternoon session sees two matches played, with the winners returning in the evening to decide the group winner. Those four successful players move into the semi-finals, played on Friday and Saturday before Sunday’s final.

Champion of Champions brings together winners of events over the last 12 months, so it is always a heavyweight field, but there are certainly kinder draws than others and O’Sullivan has a tough one.

The Rocket meets Shaun Murphy on Wednesday afternoon, with the winner of that match taking on either world champion Wu Yize or recent Wuhan Open winner Chang Bingyu.

On Monday Mark Selby faces Alfie Burden, with the winner facing Barry Hawkins or Chris Wakelin. Tuesday’s action sees Neil Robertson play women’s world champion Panchaya Channoi and the winner face Judd Trump or Jak Jones.

The final group on Thursday has Zhao Xintong or Thepchaiya Un-Nooh against Kyren Wilson or Ali Carter in the evening session.

The Rocket got his place in the event by winning the World Seniors Championship in May, having not won a professional title since 2024.

The 50-year-old actually has a very impressive record against Murphy, winning 17 of the 23 matches they have played, although one of the Magician’s wins came in the final of this event.

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He has also won his only two previous encounters against Wu and holds a 2-1 winning record against Chang, although lost their last encounter 6-3 in this season’s Wuhan Open.

History may be on O’Sullivan’s side in his Champion of Champions group, but form is not, with Wu and Chang tournament winners this season and Murphy comfortably ahead of the Rocket on the one-year rankings.

Mark Selby is the defending champion next week after beating Judd Trump in last year’s final to win the event for the first time.

Trump has won the event once and, remarkably, finished as runner-up five times.

O’Sullivan is the most successful player in the history of the tournament, winning it four times, with Robertson and Mark Allen the only other multiple champions with two wins each.

Champion of Champions is shown on ITV4 in the UK.