Former world champion Luca Brecel has £500,000 problem as he clings to snooker tour card

Former winner faces an uphill struggle to keep his professional tour card after a subpar 2024 season. The Belgian became his nation's first world champion at the Crucible last year when he defeated Mark Selby in an 18-15 thriller.

However, a year on, and despite being the world No.6, he's ranked 60th in the end of season rankings, which is only perched four places above the top 64 cut-off mark. The £500,000 he earned as a result of his world title win will come off his points total before the end of the season, placing him in dangerous territory.

'The Bullet' is expected to drop to 73,900 points on the tour's money-based list and just above Ishpreet Singh Chadha on 64,100 points in 64th spot, who recently reached the semi final of the English Open. Brecel is also narrowly ahead of former Crucible semi-finalist Marco Fu, who is on 64,000 points in 65th place.

While there's ample time and events for the snooker star to comfortably retain his tour card, his lack of form is certainly an issue and will need to undertake a dramatic swing in fortune in order to remain on the professional circuit next season.

Should Brecel finish outside the top 64, the Belgian would drop off the tour and be forced to return to Q School, which is an amateur snooker competition that serves as the qualification process for the World Snooker Tour. It's been an unthinkable fall from grace from last year's world champion who'll need to rattle off a series of wins to remain a pro, starting with his first round clash at the Northern Ireland Open against He Guoqiang later this month.

The Chinese snooker ace is coming off a significant win over Ronnie O'Sullivan, who he beat in the last 64 of the English Open before falling to Chadha 4-3 in the quarter-final of the tournament. Brecel has only achieved four victories this season with his best win coming in his last 16 defeat in the British Open last month, when he lost 4-2 to Jak Jones.

The four-time ranking event winner is currently 92nd on the one-year list and should he not improve his form before the end of the season, he's set to miss out on the World Grand Prix (top 32), Players Championship (top 16) and Tour Championship (top 12) before the World Championship.